What does the crown of the Russian Empire look like? Great Imperial Crown of the Russian Empire

Large Imperial Crown. Currently, the Great Imperial Crown is in Diamond Fund Russian Federation. The Great Imperial Crown of the Russian Empire is the main symbol of the power of Russian monarchs.

This is impossible for a number of reasons: the diamonds of the royal crown have an outdated cut. The majestic design of the crown is not only beautiful, but also filled with deep meaning. The crown is depicted at the feet of the Empress in the ensemble of the monument to Catherine II in the park near the Alexandrinsky Theater in St. Petersburg.

Catherine II, having ascended the throne after Peter III, who did not have time to be crowned, ordered the famous Great Imperial Crown, with which all her descendants will be crowned in the future (now in the Diamond Fund). Only 2 of these crowns survived before the revolution. In addition, before certain period The “wedding crowns” of brides were dismantled in the same way, although later they began to crown the one that had survived.

Imperial wedding crown (1840/1884) - diamond wedding crown made by the famous St. Petersburg company Bolin. Crown of Elizabeth Petrovna (1742) - was made by the jeweler I. G. Tsart, who was helped by Russian and foreign masters and students.

Reviews (2) on “Crowns of the Russian Empire... (13 photos)”

The coat of arms is crowned with the Finnish crown. This crown does not actually exist, but by virtue of the Highest Order of 1857, it had to be depicted in the coats of arms of the Finnish provinces and the city of Helsingfors (now Helsinki). But in Finnish writings the coat of arms of the Grand Duchy was represented by the crown of the Western European Grand Duchies. T. LXX. - St. Petersburg, 2013. - pp. 102–114; Bykova Yu. I.. On the issue of authorship coronation regalia Empress Anna Ioannovna // Moscow Kremlin in the state life of Russia.

Some of the exhibits for the project were provided by Russian archives and major museums, including the Hermitage, but the bulk of them left the Armory for the first time in several decades. The crown is crowned with a rare bright red gemstone - a noble spinel weighing 398.72 carats. It is not surprising that this crown became the main imperial regalia - all Russian emperors were crowned with it. The crown contains 1,393 diamonds, weighing a total of 586.92 carats, as well as 2,167 rose-cut diamonds, 256.96 g of silver, 2.26 g of gold. Now presented in the collection of the Diamond Fund of Russia.

Just like the crown, the orb was made for the coronation of Empress Catherine II the Great by the court jeweler Georg-Friedrich Eckart. Monomakh's hat is the main regalia of the Russian Grand Dukes and Tsars. The symbol of the crown of autocracy in Russia.

It was made in 1682 for the “duet” wedding of young Peter I to the throne - the real Monomakh hat was on the head of his brother Ivan V. Apparently, no one else used this hat. In the center of each “town” there is a large gem or a large pearl. At the bottom of the crown is attached sable fur, traditional for this type of crown - “hats”.

Today this crown is crowned with the coat of arms of Astrakhan. It was remade from the silver crown of Peter I, into which jewelers mounted about 2,500 diamonds and rubies. Empress Elizaveta Petrovna was crowned with the same crown 20 years later. In 1822, the barmas were found by royal archaeologists and given to the Armory Chamber.

A copy made by the Smolensk Diamonds company in 2012. The authors did not set out to exactly repeat the original. At the bottom, the grid of hemispheres is covered by laurel branches - a symbol of power and glory, and in the drawing, garlands are placed between the hemispheres oak leaves and acorns, which symbolizes the strength and strength of power. In the Russian kingdom, Caps of the Russian kingdom were used, in particular, for coronations - the Monomakh Cap.

Also, the Russian Empire used the Ancient Royal Crown, which does not actually exist. Included in the set for the Great Imperial Crown. The large imperial crown is made in the form of a headdress. It is composed of two silver hemispheres, personifying the connection of East and West on the territory of the Russian Empire.

Monomakh's hat

Late 13th - early 14th century. Gold Silver, gems, pearls, fur; filigree, granulation, casting, embossing, engraving. Height 18.6 cm; circumference 61 cm. Armory. Moscow The most famous of all the royal headdresses of the Russian Tsars is the Monomakh Cap. It is located in the Armory; All Russian tsars and princes, right up to Fyodor Alekseevich, were crowned with this hat. What’s interesting: the fact has been clearly established: it has nothing to do with Byzantium or the 11th century! The hat was made in Central Asia, in Bukhara, in the first half of the 14th century, 200 years after the death of Vladimir Monomakh. It also turned out that no connection between the headdress and Monomakh was noted until the beginning of the 16th century; and the Moscow princes, leaving it to their heirs, talked about the “golden cap”. It has also been proven that its first owner was Ivan Kalita. Both the hat and the horse harness (“golden horse tackle”) were presented to Ivan Kalita by his contemporary, the Golden Horde Uzbek Khan.

So this crown could not have belonged to Prince Vladimir Monomakh (c. 960 - July 15, 1015). Other hats - crowns - are made in the same likeness.

Mid 16th century. Gold, precious stones, fur; casting, embossing, carving, niello The Kazan Cap is a gold filigree crown made around 1553 for Ivan the Terrible immediately after the conquest and annexation of the Kazan Khanate to the Russian state and the consolidation of the title of the Kazan Tsar. There is no exact information about when and by whom the crown was made. There is a version that it was made by jewelers of the conquered Khanate.

Crown."Big outfit." Astrakhan hat. 1627

Gold, precious stones, pearls, fur; casting, chasing, engraving, carving, shotting. Height 30.2 cm, circumference 66.5 cm. Armory. Moscow. Belonged to Tsar Mikhail Romanov. Work of the Moscow Kremlin Workshops. It is named after the Astrakhan cap because by the reign of the 1st Tsar from the Romanov dynasty, Mikhail Fedorovich, the conquest of the Astrakhan Khanate and the erection of the cross on both banks of the Volga, and access to the Caspian Sea, had been completed. And also, this crown is present on the coat of arms of Astrakhan. As you know, after the death of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, young Ivan and Peter were placed on the throne, and personal crowns were made for them in the Kremlin workshops.

Fabric, brocade, gold, precious stones, pearls, fur; casting, embossing, carving, enamel, shotting. Armouries. Moscow. Belonged to Tsar Ivan Alekseevich. Work of the Moscow Kremlin Workshops

Diamond hat 1682 - 1687

Gold, silver, precious stones, pearls, fur; casting, chasing, carving, enamel Armory. Moscow. Belonged to Tsar Ivan Alekseevich. Work of the Moscow Kremlin Workshops For more than close-up prominent patterns and double-headed eagles on the crown.

Diamond Crown. 1682 - 1684

Gold, silver, precious stones, fur; casting, embossing, enamel. Armouries. Moscow. It belonged to Tsar Peter Alekseevich. Work of the Moscow Kremlin Workshops

"Monomakh's hat of the second outfit." 1682

Gold, precious stones, pearls, fur; casting, chasing, carving Armory Chamber. Moscow. Russia. It belonged to Tsar Peter Alekseevich. Work of the Moscow Kremlin Workshops. Next come the imperial crowns. One of the first imperial crowns was the crown with which Tsar Peter I crowned Catherine I. But only one frame remained from it, because... subsequent generations used diamonds for their needs

The crown of the Russian Empress Anna Ioannovna is a precious crown made in St. Petersburg in 1730-1731, presumably by the master Gottlieb Wilhelm Dunkel. About two and a half thousand diamonds, rubies and tourmalines, skillfully selected in size, are mounted into the silver frame of the crown. Most of them previously adorned the crown of Empress Catherine I, as well as the dark red tourmaline placed under the irregularly shaped diamond cross. It was purchased in 1676 from the Chinese Bogdykhan by decree of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and subsequently adorned several royal crowns in turn. The weight of this unique piece is one hundred grams. And finally, the most valuable exhibit of the Diamond Fund

The large imperial crown of the Russian Empire was made for the coronation in 1762 by the famous jewelers Georg-Friedrich Eckart, who was the author of the sketches and frame, and also supervised the work and Jeremy (Jeremiah: in Russia he was called Eremey Petrovich) Pozier, who was engaged in the selection of stones. The work was carried out by special order of Catherine II. Famous masters Only one condition was set - the crown had to weigh no more than 5 pounds (2 kilograms). The jewelry miracle was created in just two months. It was the most famous crown The Russian Empire, until the decline of the monarchy, personified the supreme power in Russia. After the October Revolution, dilapidated and ruined by gangs of “Bolsheviks,” the young communist state of workers’ and peasants’ councils needed finance. The government was looking for loans and approached Michael Collins, Ireland's finance minister. The Royal Jewels were used as collateral for the Soviet Republic for a $25,000 loan.

The transfer of valuables and money took place in New York, between the head of the “Soviet bureau” - Soviet ambassador in America, Ludwig Martens, and the Irish Ambassador to the USA, Harry Boland. After returning to Ireland, Boland kept the jewelry in the house of his mother, Kathleen Boland O'Donovan, who lived in Dublin. Throughout the period of the Irish War of Independence, the jewelry was kept by Boland's mother. Mrs. Boland O'Donovan handed over the Russian jewels to the government of the Irish Republic in the person of Eamon de Valera only in 1938, which were kept in safes in government buildings and were forgotten for a while. In 1948, the valuables were discovered and, by decision of the new Irish government, led by John A. Costello, a decision was made to sell the pledged royal jewels to Russia at a public auction in London. However, after consultation regarding legal status collateral values ​​and negotiations with the Soviet ambassador, the decision to sell was canceled. The valuables had to be returned to Soviet Union in exchange for the sum of $25,000, originally loaned in 1920. The jewelry returned to Moscow in 1950. All subsequent Russian emperors after Catherine II were crowned with this crown.

The Small Imperial Crown of the Russian Empire is one of the imperial regalia. The small crown was created by the jeweler Seftigen for the coronation of Empress Maria Alexandrovna, wife of Alexander II in 1856.

Gold, silver, pink diamond, small diamonds. Moscow Most likely it belonged to Elizaveta Alexandrovna, wife of Alexander I

Our craftsmen were unable to make one; they ordered it from the craftsmen of the Barrandov studio in Prague. Decorated rock crystal, is an artistic rarity.

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Yes, the crown of the widow of Peter the Great was dismantled, stripped of jewelry, which was put into further circulation. The frame made of gilded silver has been preserved in the Armory. The crown of Peter II was kept in the treasury for a year, after which it was turned into a set of stones and valuable metal scrap. Anna Ioannovna retained the imperial crown, but Elizabeth, who ascended to the throne, ordered a new crown to be made. Besides the fact that the tradition had not yet developed, the graceful daughter Peter could not stand having a heavy, old-fashioned thing placed on her pretty head, suitable only for a manly cousin. And she received a lovely openwork crown for her coronation. But it was also dismantled.

For twenty years there was no need to invent anything, but after the death of Elizabeth Petrovna, the wife of the new emperor, Ekaterina Alekseevna, ordered a funeral crown. It was made by the Swiss Eckart, but the size was wrong. The Frenchman Pozier corrected the mistake by securing the crown with screws on the forehead of the deceased empress, who no longer had the opportunity to protest. The skills of both jewelers would come in handy a few months later when the coup d'état took place in June 1762. Betskoy, one of the conspirators, having hinted to Catherine about his special role in her accession, received as a favor responsibility for everything that would be on the empress during the coronation. And he got down to business. Having instructed Eckart and Pozier to make a new, unprecedented, Big crown, Betskoy resolved endless disputes between two jewelers, supplied them with hundreds of precious stones and dozens of pearls from the treasury, and found scrap gold and silver. It was he who proposed to crown the crown with an unprecedented lal, brought from China under Alexei Mikhailovich. The stone was considered a ruby, but it is a closely related noble spinel. Be that as it may, he is incredibly handsome.

Coronation portrait of Catherine II. Stefano Torelli, between 1763 and 1766

The jewelers and the busy Betskoy presented the empress with a masterpiece. The finest ligature, swift laurel and oak branches, stones and pearls, skillfully built into the openwork design - all this turned the Great Crown into a symbol of the new reign, which promised to be bright, cheerful and reasonable. Compared to her predecessors, her weight was small - about two kilograms. Oddly enough, the continuity and heredity of this attribute of power was approved by Pavel Petrovich. And twice. Not only was he crowned with a crown made for his unloved mother, but he also posthumously crowned his father, who had been deposed by Catherine, with it. Since then, for a hundred years, Russian emperors have been crowned with the same Great Crown. Last time it was seen on the head of the autocrat at the opening of the First State Duma. During Great War she, along with other jewelry, was evacuated from Petrograd to Moscow.

Treasures were divided into “historically valuable” and others.

But here comes the revolution... In 1920, by decree of Lenin, the State Repository of Valuables - Gokhran - was created. In the same year, another decree organized the sale of jewelry abroad. But these are still requisitioned, “non-royal” gold and diamonds. In 1922, under the leadership of the famous professor of mineralogy Alexander Fersman, a commission worked to describe the contents of the boxes brought to the Armory in 1914. There is also a Big Crown.

At the same time, the treasures were divided into “historically valuable” and others that could be sold off. In 1923, some of the valuables ended up in Chita. Much disappears. The collection is thinning in two ways: government sales and theft. And it’s not passionate monarchists or foreign intelligence agents who steal, as is nicely shown in the final film of the Elusive Avengers trilogy. There, the cunning staff captain Ovechkin (artist Dzhigarkhanyan) pretends to be a watchmaker, a security officer, or a proletarian and steals the crown of the Russian Empire.

But the even more cunning Danka - Ksanka - Yashka - Valerka, with the help of the repentant repeat offender Naryshkin, return the treasure to the people. No, real proletarians and security officers stole and sold them. In 1925, the collection of royal jewelry consisted of more than seven hundred items, in 2017 there were less than two hundred... The large imperial crown survived. Having shown at the 1925 exhibition, she did not go to Armand Hammer or to some super-mysterious collection. She simply hid from the people, who were solemnly declared her master. Since 1967, the crown can again be seen in the Diamond Fund. That's better. I hope it won't fit anyone's head.

Lead image: Wikipedia.org

Image for the announcement of the material on the main page: ok.ru

Any jewel has great value. In the case when this product is also a generally recognized work of art, its value increases many times over. And precious works of art, which also have historical and ritual significance, receive absolutely priceless status. First of all, these include, of course, all kinds of crowns and tiaras of numerous monarchs, emperors, kings and kings.

One of the most prominent places in the list of such royal regalia is occupied by the Great Imperial Crown of the Russian Empire, which is not only a cultural and historical heritage, but also a masterpiece of jewelry art.

First, a short historical excursion: in pre-Petrine Russia, autocrats were crowned with special crowns, the most famous of which was the well-known “Monomakh’s hat.” Real crowns, in the European style, appeared in our country during the time of Peter I, when in 1724 the first such crown was created for the coronation of the emperor’s wife, the future Empress Catherine I. Subsequently, this crown was remade several times in accordance with the tastes and requirements of the new emperors and empresses, until in 1762, especially for the coronation of Catherine II, the Great Imperial Crown was made there, which was placed on the heads of all Russian autocrats down to the last of them, Nicholas II.

The authors of the Great Imperial Crown were the famous jewelry masters Georg-Friedrich Eckart and Jeremy Pozier, who were given almost complete freedom of creativity only under one condition - the crown should not weigh more than two kilograms. The division of labor between the two jewelers was as follows: Eckart was the author of the sketch of the work and the frame maker, and Pauzier was engaged in the selection of precious stones. The work was completed in record time, two months, and was estimated at 8,200 rubles. Because of difficult relationships between two jewelers for a long time it was believed that the only author of the crown was Eckart, who in every possible way kept silent and hid the fact of Pozier’s participation in the creation of the masterpiece.

The shape of the crown was borrowed from the headdresses of eastern rulers, more reminiscent of the turban of an Indian sultan than the traditional crown of medieval Europe. Two large silver hemispheres symbolize two parts of the world, Europe and Asia, West and East, united within the Russian Empire. Almost five thousand (to be statistically accurate - 4936) small diamonds weighing a total of 2858 carats, as well as 54 large Indian pearls (they were set into the crown for the coronation of Paul I, in the original, “Catherine’s” version there were 72) are set into these large hemispheres pearls smaller size). The largest and most famous precious stone of the Great Imperial Crown is a ruby ​​(spinel) weighing almost 400 carats, mounted on a golden arc and topped with a diamond cross. This bright red stone is a traditional treasure of the royal house of the Romanovs: it fell into their hands almost 100 years before the making of the Great Imperial Crown, in 1676, having been acquired by Russian diplomats from the Chinese Emperor Kangxi, and was an invariable part of all Russian crowns, used in enthronement ceremonies. This ruby ​​is part of the symbolic ensemble of the Russian imperial regalia: being a large red stone, it was complemented by a blue sapphire set in the orb and a shining (white) diamond located on the scepter. Thus, these three largest gems denoted the colors of the national white-blue-red flag of the Russian state.

The Great Imperial Crown of the Russian Empire was naturally considered the main treasure royal family and already at the end of the 19th century its pure jewelry value, without taking into account the symbolic historical value, amounted to a million gold rubles. For the coronation of Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra Feodorovna, the legendary jeweler Faberge made a small copy of the crown, especially for the Empress, which was called the Small Crown of the Russian Empire, which later became the subject detective stories and a film about the “elusive Avengers”.

Unlike its “younger relative,” the Great Imperial Crown did not leave Russia and after the revolution of 1917 became the property of the state; currently stored in the Diamond Fund. True, at the beginning of 2009, American newspapers put forward a version that a copy was kept in Russia, and the real Great Imperial, along with other treasures of the Romanovs, was hidden in the Mongolian Gobi Desert. These assumptions are based on the statements of the American descendants of Russian emigrant aristocrats, but are considered unfounded by historians both due to the lack of documentary evidence and because of the logical contradictions of the voiced version.

Alexander Babitsky

The main regalia confirming the power of monarchs is the crown or crown. The rulers, competing in the splendor and luxury of symbols of power, decorated their crowns, made of gold and silver, with rare and very expensive stones. This review includes the most famous crowns in the world, among which it is not so easy to determine the best one.

The crown of the kings and emperors of the Holy Roman Empire has several names, one of the most famous is the crown of Charlemagne, and it was made at the end of the 10th century.

Crown of kings and emperors of the Holy Roman Empire.

This oldest jewelry masterpiece, unlike other crowns, original form in the form of an octagon, decorated with 144 precious stones and pearls. Initially kept in Nuremberg, when there was a threat of the capture of this city by the troops of Napoleon, who sought to get it for his coronation, the crown was transported to Vienna and hidden there. It is now kept in the Vienna Museum.

Crown of the British Empire.

The famous jewel, made in 1911, is not the property of the Queen, but belongs to the state, and its main repository is the Tower Fortress Museum, and the current Queen Elizabeth II wears the crown only on the occasion of the annual Opening of Parliament ceremony or other state celebrations. And although the crown has a relatively light weight, 910 grams, the queen, in order to get used to it and not be embarrassed at the ceremony, puts on the crown in advance and walks around in it for several hours. On these rare days you can see the Queen with a magnificent crown on her head at breakfast in home environment or watching newspapers.

Great Crown of the Russian Empire.

This jewel, which outshone the crowns of all foreign rulers with its brilliance and splendor, was conceived by Catherine II for her coronation in 1762. Famous jewelers, who worked on its creation, managed to create this miracle in just two months.

The openwork frame of an elegant shape in the form of two hemispheres (symbolizing the East and West) made of gold and silver, reminiscent of an oriental headdress, was made by the chief court jeweler Ekart. But Eckart entrusted the selection of stones for the crown and its decoration to the jeweler Pozier, who did a brilliant job. Rows of matte pearls perfectly emphasize the sparkle of a scattering of diamonds, and the crown is crowned with a real treasure - rare mineral, a bright red ruby ​​schniel weighing about 400 carats, brought back in the 16th century from China. Today this national treasure is exhibited in the famous Diamond Fund.


Diamonds and pearls of the Grand Crown.

Red spinel of the Great Crown.

Crowns of Russia

At a time when Europe crowned its rulers with luxurious crowns, in Russia they were replaced by crowns studded with gems, the most famous of which is the Monomakh cap. Ivan the Terrible was the first to be crowned with it during his reign.

The famous Monomakh's Hat.

The transition to imperial crowns in Russia took place thanks to Peter I. Himself crowned with the Monomakh Cap, he ordered the first Russian crown to be made from gilded silver, which his wife Catherine I was lucky enough to own.


The first Russian crown.

Empress Anna Ioannovna ordered a new crown for her coronation, and it was made in accordance with her tastes and wishes, many precious stones were used from the crown of Catherine I.

Crown of Empress Anna Ioanovna.

From 1872 until the fall of the empire, all Russian emperors were crowned with the famous Great Imperial Crown. And for the coronation of the queens, several smaller copies of this crown were made, but only one of them has survived.


Small imperial crown.

Nicholas II and his wife wearing imperial crowns.