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Fabergé's Easter egg with a model of the 'Memory of Azov' cruiser is thematically related to another Easter masterpiece from the Armoury Chamber of the Moscow Kremlin – the 1900 egg patterned after a Siberian train. In Vladivostok, after completing his long voyage on the 'Memory of Azov' cruiser, Tsesarevich Nicholai Alexandrovich initiated the construction of the Siberian railway, which was nearly completed by 1900/ this was the event to which the Easter egg was dedicated. It was made of gold and platinum and had a surprise in a form of a miniature railway.

The construction of the Trans-Siberian railway was an event of great political importance. Ussuriysk Krai along with Vladivostok had been annexed to the Russian Empire only in 1859. By broadening its boundaries, Russia was 'growing into Asia' and connecting the European and Asian parts of the country by the railway was a dream cherished by Emperor Alexander III. A special task force was set up to manage the construction of the Trans-Siberian under the supervision of Tsesarevich Nicholai Alexandrovich.

The great undertaking was carried out in a relatively short period of time: by 1900 the most part of the work had been done, and after the section skirting Lake Baikal had been built an unbroken route spanning the entire route of Siberia was on track. The world admired the great feat of Russian engineers, who forged this route across the rivers and dug numerous tunnels. The Siberian Express laid the groundwork for promoting the development of a vast new territory. Tens of millions of settlers set out for the taiga, providing Russian farmers with an endless expanse of wild steppes, and life teemed before long in new cities. Traffic between Saint Petersburg and Vladivostok had begun back in the reign of Nicholas II. It is, therefore, no coincidence that the Easter egg intended as a gift for Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna in 1900, a turning point, was devoted to this eminent event.

The Siberian Train Egg hold a very special place in the Kremlin collection of Easter masterpieces by Carl Fabergé, as it is the only one with a mechanical surprise, which is removable and can be set in motion by a tiny golden key. Carl Fabergé devoted nearly the same amount of care and attention to his surprises as he did to the precious ‘shell’ of his encased eggs. The surprise is an amazing feat of jewellery, which reveals the workmaster’s finesse in creating a locomotive with a complex and intricate design of less than two centimeters in length. Nevertheless, it sets in motion a steam engine with a ruby lantern and diamond headlight as well as five carriages with windows made out of rock crystal and inscriptions that could only be read with the aid of a magnifying glass. The first carriage bears the following inscription: ‘Siberian express’, while the second, third and fourth read: ‘Ladies’, ‘Smokers’, and ‘Non-Smokers’. There were also signs indicating seat numbers (18 and 24) and the classes available on board the train (first and second). The last carriage in the model depicts a church carriage. The prototype for it was the carriage built in 1896 and consecrated in the presence of the imperial family in honour of St. Olga, the patron saint of Nichols's eldest daughter.

The train-surprise was a triptychfolded into the egg case, with a velvet lining and decorated outside with polychrome enamel and a wide silver band with an engraved map of the Russian empire showing the Trans-Siberian trunk line and bearing the inscription: 'The Great Siberian Railway as of 1900'. Sections of the railroad that were not yet complete were marked with a dotted line. The silver egg, which was placed on the massive graded base made of white onyx, plastered with state insignia. The egg was decked out with a 3D cast depiction of the double-headed eagle and rested on three silver gilded figures of marching gryfons with a sword and a shield in the paws (features from the ancestral coat of arms of the Romanov dynasty) signifying that the great road had been built by commission and under supervision of two Romanovs, Alexander III and Nicholas II.

The egg was exposed at the World Fair in Paris in 1900. Contemporaries perceived this project not only as a national but as a dynastic feat. A few years later a magnificent monument was erected in honour of Alexander III on Znamenskaya square in Saint Petersburg – opposite to the Nikolaevsky train station, the point marking the beginning of this long route.  A miniature copy of this monument was the surprise of the Easter egg made by the Fabergé firm in 1910. Thus, the brilliant Russian jeweller managed to enshrine in his works one of the greatest events in the history of Russia.

 
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