What event in the history of our country is connected with the diamond fund?

The Diamond Fund is a unique exhibition on the territory of the Moscow Kremlin, permanently displaying exhibits that have special historical, cultural and artistic value. The national treasury was opened in 1967 in the Armory Chamber. Today, it houses more than 110 exhibits, including unusual precious stones, nuggets and masterpieces of jewelry. 579 2 0 13 min. for reading

History of the creation of the Diamond Fund

The beginning of the formation of the Diamond Fund dates back to the Petrine era in the history of Russia. In 1719, the last Russian Tsar issued a decree on the creation of a state organization that would be in charge of storing palace jewelry and especially important church relics. All this had to be carefully guarded in the city that was soon to become the capital of the Russian Empire – St. Petersburg. The Diamond Room, created by Peter the Great, housed valuable palace items that were passed down in the royal family from generation to generation, as well as expensive gifts from foreign partners. Treasurers were responsible for the safety of the contents; first of all, they took inventory of valuables and organized a place for each item. This position was not abolished after the death of Peter I, but the order of storing relics changed. The Diamond Room was a room in the palace, which, as a rule, belonged to the ruler’s chambers. When Catherine the Great came to power, the vault was replenished with a large number of nuggets and imperial regalia. It was located in the former bedroom of the empress, which due to this became the most expensive office of imperial Russia for the entire period of its existence.

To ensure that the interior decoration of the room corresponded to the valuables stored here, the interior of the room was taken up by the architect Yuri Matveevich Felten, who helped Rastrelli in the construction of the Winter Palace. In parallel with this, an inventory was carried out, as a result of which marked and weighed products were entered into registers. Thus, since the 1760s, the crown’s valuables were kept in one of the empress’s state rooms.

In the central part of the Diamond or Diamond Room, under a cap made of crystal, there were the main signs of the supreme power of monarchs: a scepter, an orb and a crown. Around them were other products, which were becoming more and more numerous. Soon, glass display cases were installed for them in the room, the keys to which were kept by Skorokhodova, a servant of Catherine the Great. There were so many valuables in the Empress’s office that, despite careful control, they often got lost and later found themselves in unexpected places. However, not all the missing jewelry was returned: from time to time the empress used them for award sets for her nobles and outstanding military figures. In her last years on the throne, Catherine the Great moved the treasury to Raphael’s loggias. For many years, the Diamond Room was the repository of the most important jewelry that existed in the empire, until in the 1910s they were urgently transported from the capital to Moscow. The need for evacuation was caused by the fact that the front line passed not far from St. Petersburg. Although the rare items were evacuated in a hurry, they were transported very carefully.

Together with the inventory of the late 19th century, which has survived to this day, the contents of the Diamond Room were placed in the Armory Chamber of the Moscow Kremlin. When the monarchy was overthrown and power passed to the soviets, the crown’s values ​​came under the jurisdiction of the USSR Gokhran as the State Diamond Fund. It was also supplemented by a source on the genealogy of the Russian nobility “Russian Genealogical Book” and written dying orders of the imperial family.

Until 1967, the jewels and rarities from the Diamond Room were not available for free inspection by visitors. Only on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution, the government decided to organize a temporary exhibition. It was opened for a year, but the interest and extreme popularity aroused in it led to the fact that the exhibition was made permanent.

Exhibits of the Diamond Fund

The collections of the Diamond Fund of Russia are housed in two halls of the building occupied by the Armory Chamber. Among the oldest exhibits are coronation regalia, among which you can see the Great Power with a large sapphire from Sri Lanka made for the coronation of Catherine the Great and the Great Imperial Crown, in which there are almost five thousand diamonds of 0,58 carats on average each, 75 pearls from India and spinel weighing almost 400 carats. During the tour, visitors are also shown jewelry from the mid-18th century, created during the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna. One of the most famous exhibits of this period is the “Big Bouquet”, which adorned Elizabeth’s ceremonial dress. The brooch is a bouquet of flowers laid out from diamonds on gold stems with emerald leaves that tremble when walking. Products from the second half of the 1770th century are light stones combined with silver. This trend was largely due to the fact that specialists had learned how to cut a diamond perfectly and used the skill everywhere. An example of the work is the porte bouquet, a small container for flowers pinned to clothing and dating from the XNUMXs. The item is decorated with gold stems with a ribbon and a diamond bow. In the 13,4th century, a fashion for antiquity began in Europe. Very popular head decorations at this time in Russia were tiaras stylized as kokoshniks. One of these tiaras, which belonged to the wife of Paul I, has survived to this day and is presented in the museum. The triangular-shaped piece is made from a variety of diamonds, including a rare soft pink weighing almost XNUMX carats and teardrop-shaped moving stones.

The exhibition of the Moscow Kremlin Diamond Fund also displays precious stones that are very valuable in themselves. So, here there are seven so-called historical stones (three diamonds and four semi-precious stones), known all over the world, personalized diamonds, as well as platinum and gold nuggets, including the “Ural Giant” weighing more than 7 kilograms and the gold “Camel”, which weighs almost 9,3 kilograms.

Behind the glass display case you can also see awards from the times of the Russian Empire and the USSR. The first includes, for example, the Order of the Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called with the apostle crucified on a blue cross. Among the awards from the USSR period, the Order of Victory and the Star of the Marshal of the Soviet Union, made in the 1950s from platinum using diamonds, gold and synthetic rubies, are on display. The Great Imperial Crown

Features of the Diamond Fund architecture

The Diamond Fund is a small museum that does not have a building dedicated exclusively to it. It is located in the building of the Armory Chamber, erected in the mid-19th century under the leadership of the Russian architect Konstantin Andreevich Ton. Due to the fact that the building was made in a style typical of Russian architecture of the 17th century, it does not stand out against the background of the architectural ensemble of the Grand Kremlin Palace. The building where the Diamond Fund is located not only corresponds externally to the palace, but also seems to continue it thanks to the passage designed on the second floor. This passage allowed passage from the exhibition halls of the Armory directly to the state rooms of the palace. The suite of rooms was created to impress Kremlin guests. The building itself is a rectangular two-story structure with an additional basement floor. Part of the first floor is occupied by the Diamond Fund, the rest and the entire second floor are occupied by the collections of the Armory Chamber, housed in nine halls. Despite the fact that the decor of the building is rather modest, overall it looks very elegant and rich. The colors of the facades are yellow and white, the roof is painted green. The entire wall of the structure consists of numerous symmetrical vertical lines with windows. The lower floor is characterized by a rustic finish characteristic of the classical style. At this level there are simple windows and massive white stone pilasters. An element of the Baroque style are the two-light windows decorating the second floor of the Armory building. Thanks to them, one real floor looks like two from the outside. In addition to creating the illusion of expanding space, such windows in two rows contribute to better lighting of the premises of the building. The lower floor is occupied by halls with a low vaulted ceiling, which is supported by powerful supports, as it was in the times of Ancient Rus’. The second floor is high, it ends with Gothic cross vaults. From the outside, the pilasters on the lower floor flow into the classic white half-columns that decorate the second floor. To add a medieval touch to this element, the architect decorated the half-columns with carved floral patterns.

Diamond Fund now

After visitors got acquainted with the then temporary exhibition in 1967, it was already seen by more than 5 million people, including foreigners. Since tours of the Diamond Fund are conducted only with a local guide and only in Russian, guests from abroad can use an audio guide. They are prepared for tourists from English-speaking countries, from Europe, China and Japan. Today, the exhibition of the Diamond Fund’s collections is permanent and occupies two large rooms: the first displays nuggets and jewelry, and the second displays items of particular historical value. Museum exhibits are depicted on a series of 3-ruble and 25-ruble silver coins issued in limited editions in 2016, as well as on Soviet and modern postage stamps.

Working hours of the Diamond Fund

The Diamond Fund is open every day, except Thursday, from 10 am to 6 pm with a lunch break that starts at 60 pm and lasts XNUMX minutes. The ticket office, located in the Alexander Garden near the Kutafya Tower, starts working an hour before the museum opens – at 9 am. The box office closes for one-hour lunch at 12:00. You can buy a ticket here until 16:30, and enter the Diamond Fund until 17:20. Unlike the Armory, whose exhibitions are entered only four times a day, the Diamond Fund receives visitors every 20 minutes. The guided tour lasts from 40 to 50 minutes. A standard ticket to the museum costs 800 rubles, and a discounted ticket costs 100 rubles. Tickets can be purchased on a first-come, first-served basis at the Kremlin box office, or online on the museum’s official website, then changing the electronic ticket to a paper ticket at the ticket office. Usually, access to the museum territory is through the Borovitsky Gate, but during restoration work you may be asked to enter the Armory Chamber building through the Kutafya Tower. When planning to visit the Diamond Fund, visitors should note that photographing or filming exhibits is strictly prohibited. You cannot take large items with you, or enter the museum in outerwear.

Getting there

The Diamond Fund is located in the Armory Chamber on the territory of the Grand Kremlin Palace. You can get here by both underground and surface transport. In the first case, the closest walk is from the Borovitskaya metro station – about ten minutes. The journey from the “Alexandrovsky Sad”, “Lenin Library” or “Arbatskaya” stations will take a little longer – a quarter of an hour. If you decide to go by bus, then you need to take a vehicle that passes the Borovitskaya Square or Lenin Library stops. You will have to walk a little closer from the parking lot if you go to the museum by car. The nearest inexpensive surface parking areas are on Ilyinka Street and Vetoshny Lane. Coordinates of the Diamond Fund building: 55°44′58.98″ N. w. 37°36′49.32″ E. d. And the diamond fund is a unique collection of historical monuments, works of jewelry, rare samples of precious stones, and nuggets of precious metals. This is one of the few treasuries in the world that store crown treasures. The history of its creation begins with the decree of Peter I (1719), according to which a special room was allocated for the special storage of “things belonging to the state,” which was later called the Diamond Room. State regalia, order insignia, and ceremonial jewelry were concentrated here. Members of the imperial family wore them on special occasions. Throughout the reign of the Romanov dynasty, the treasury was replenished with jewelry. A wide variety of objects and jewelry, richly decorated with precious stones, were made during this period. Splendor and splendor distinguished the Russian court, especially during the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna and Catherine II. He was one of the most brilliant in Europe. The best jewelers worked at the court, such as I. Pozier, father and sons Duval, L. Pfisterer, G. Eckart. They created works of high jewelry, now on display at the exhibition. Breastplate with a portrait of Peter I.

First half of the 18th century

A unique collection of masterpieces of jewelry art of the 18th-20th centuries, precious stones, medal badges, nuggets of gold and platinum are closely related to the history of the Russian state. The official formation of the collection began in the first half of the 1719th century, when Emperor Peter I decided to create the State Repository of Crown Valuables. In XNUMX, a special department, the Chamber Collegium, was organized, which in its Regulations (charter) accurately listed the regalia that existed at that time and established the procedure for their storage. Peter I’s thought about symbols of power that have national significance was later extended to other values. The charter and staff of the chamber department in charge of the crown diamonds changed with each reign. Bow slavage. Master L. Pfisterer. 1764

Second half of the 18th-19th centuries

Crown valuables were kept in a specially guarded room – the Office or Room of His or Her Imperial Majesty, which was also called the Diamond or Diamond Room. During the reign of Catherine II, in 1764, the Empress’s ceremonial bedchamber was converted into the Diamond Room. Contemporaries wrote about it as the richest cabinet of jewelry. The interior was created by the architect Yu.M. Felten. The State Commission under the direction of Academician A.E. Fersman is engaged in the certification of crown values.

First half of the 20th century

At the beginning of the First World War, as the front approached St. Petersburg, the imperial regalia, crown values, the genealogical book of the Russian Imperial House, and the wills of members of the imperial family were evacuated to the Moscow Kremlin and placed in the Crown Hall of the Armory. The evacuation was carried out hastily, but with incredible care for the valuables being transported. The chests contained an Inventory of 1898 with a revaluation of each item. This document served as the basis for subsequent study and publication of the collection. Tiara “Russian Beauty”.

Second half of the 20th century – beginning of the 21st century

The fifties opened a new page in the development of the country’s subsoil. In 1954, geologist from Leningrad L.A. Popugaeva discovered the first diamond kimberlite pipe “Zarnitsa”, in 1955 the “Mir” pipe was discovered – one of the largest deposits in Yakutia. The collection of Gokhran was replenished with a number of large domestic diamonds, then the works of modern jewelers. In addition, the Diamond Fund houses a unique collection of gold and platinum nuggets, including the famous Mineralogical Collection of Catherine II. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Soviet state, on November 2, 1967, a temporary exhibition of the Diamond Fund exhibition was opened in the building of the Armory Chamber. It was decided to show the collection to guests who came to Moscow for festive events. It was assumed that the unique exhibits would be displayed for a year and then returned to Gokhran for storage, but the exhibition became such a major event in the cultural life of the country and the whole world that by a special resolution of the Government it was decided to transform it into a permanent one. Federal government institution “State institution for the formation of the State Fund of Precious Metals and Precious Stones of the Russian Federation, storage, release and use of precious metals and precious stones (Gokhran of Russia) under the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation.” Russia, 121170,
Moscow, 1812 Goda street, 14
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