The Gold Room is a treasure gallery located in The Hermitage Museum. There are two sections: The Gold and Diamond Rooms which display the gold jewelry of ancient nomadic tribes of Russia and the jewelry pieces from The Gallery of Jewelry of The Imperial Hermitage which was created in more recent times. The Gold Room collection of antiquities includes a large number of gold artifacts: bracelets, rings, earrings, female and male clothing decorations. The earliest works in The Gold Room date back to 4th-3rd millennium B.C. The first ancient goldsmiths' works came from The Siberian Collection of Peter the Great. Those were discovered during the period when the Russians were intensively colonizing Siberia. Scythian gold jewelry was found in the southern areas of Russia during archeological excavations in the late 18th century onwards. Greek gold jewelry was found on the Northern Black Sea coast, ancient location of Greek towns and colonies.
Among the religious objects of The Gold Room are rich icons once owned by the imperial family. All of them are clad in gold mounts, adorned with brilliant-cut diamonds or the most precious gemstones such as emeralds, sapphires, rubies and pearls. A major part of The Gold Room is occupied with secular jewelry that belonged to the Imperial collection.
At all times, Russian czars lived in wealth and luxury. According to the evidence of W. Cox, a traveler who visited St. Petersburg in 1778, "the wealth and luxury of the Russian court surpassed even the most sumptuous descriptions: the traces of old Asiatic magnificence were blended with European refinement ... The wealth and glitter of court attire and abundance of gemstones leave far behind the splendor of other European courts ... While in European courts precious stones were only worn on ladies' clothes, in Russia men rivaled women in self-decoration: nearly all dignitaries' clothing was studded with brilliant-cut diamonds - buttons, buckles, saber hilts, epaulettes and hats."
The Hermitage Museum owns a pearl pendant that had allegedly belonged to the famous British privateer Sir Francis Drake. Its creation was linked to his round-the-world voyage of 1577-1580 and his promotion to Vice-Admiral of the British Fleet by Queen Elizabeth.
German jewelers produced a 46 piece gold toilet setting for Empress Anna Ioanovna. It includes gold teapots, coffee-cups, wash-stands, candlesticks, trays and caskets. After her death the gold setting was used only for dressing royal brides before wedding ceremonies.
Empress Elizabeth purchased many fashionable items from Europe: English watches, necessers (toiletry cases), brooches, hair decorations of gem stones.
Catherine the Great opened a 'diamond treasury' in The Winter palace. She kept there a great number of articles, snuff-boxes, watches and chains, gold sword hilts. Before the October Revolution there were 2 famous diamonds in Russia - the Orlov Diamond weighing 194.8 carats mounted into Catherine's scepter, and the Shah Diamond weighing 88.7 carats presented by The Shah of Iran. They are now on display in the Diamond Fund of Russia.
Probably, the most striking object in The Gold Room collection is the horse attire presented to Nicolas I by The Sultan of the Ottoman Empire - Makhmud. The saddle cloth is encrusted with more than 16,000 diamonds.
One of the most recent sections of The Gold Room is a collection of works by Carl Faberge and his goldsmiths.
The Hermitage Gold Room will astonish you with its scope and abundance of priceless jewelry pieces, though it requires great energy on your part to cover all it has to offer (excursions may last 40-60 minutes).
The Hermitage Museum from Natalia on Vimeo.
Remark: The Gold Room private tour shall be booked not later than 20th of the month prior to your visit. During high tourist season The Hermitage Museum reserves the right to refuse private tour bookings due to limited admittance. We will be able to confirm the tour booking at the beginning of the month of your tour. Photo is prohibited inside!
Closed: on Mondays
