The Link of Times Foundation is planning to build a Moscow museum for its collection, which among other art pieces comprises the best Fabergé collection in the world. Although the plan is still in its initial stages, Roman Thacker, director of the group has announced that discussions are already under way with the Moscow government.
The Link of Times Foundation (or Svyaz Vremen in Russian), was set up in February 2004 by Viktor Vekselberg, the industrialist and businessman who acquired the famous Forbes Fabergé collection in New York in 2004.
The foundation's objective is to find and repatriate cultural and historical artworks of significance, one of the landmarks of which are the works of art created by the Russian jeweler Pyotr Karlovich Fabergé.
Alexander III appointed Fabergé official Court Supplier after he crafted an exquisite bejeweled Easter egg known as the Hen Egg, which the
Tsar presented to his wife Maria Feodorovna in 1885; the tradition continued every year. The next Tsar, Nicholas II, ordered two eggs a year - one for his mother and one for his own wife Alexandra - until 1917.
"The idea is to create a museum for private collections," says Andrei Shtorkh, official spokesman for the foundation. "There are many collectors in Russia nowadays who collect paintings, icons, musical instruments." The Link of Times collection currently includes about 500 pieces of art including nine Imperial Fabergé Easter Eggs that were bought by Vekselberg through Sotheby's in New York. The largest Fabergé collection, which he bought even before it went to auction, was previously known as the Forbes collection and had taken Malcolm Forbes, the founder of Forbes magazine, half a century to build.
Vekselberg has in the past expressed his delight at seeing exceptional works of art which had left, Russia gradually come home where they belong and where the Russian people can get a chance to see their cultural heritage. Since its inception, the Link of Times Foundation has organized exhibitions all around Russia, including Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Irkutsk and Tyumen.
"In fact we are currently working on our St. Petersburg museum," says Shtorkh. "The Shuvalovsky Palace on the Embankment is being renovated for this purpose and towards the end of 2009 it should be back to its original beauty. Then the first private museum will be opened. It will show private collections, and not always the same ones, they will change around. This is very important for Russians, since many works by Fabergé have been lost. It has been estimated that he produced a total of 50 Imperial Eggs: 8 are currently considered lost, 10 are in the Kremlin's Armory Chamber, 9 belong to our collection, and a few are scattered in private collections around the world."
A few days ago Christie's sold one of the few remaining Imperial eggs, the Rothschild Fabergé Egg, during its Russian Art Week. It was acquired by a private Russian collector for $18,499, 830, which according to Christie's is a world record price for a Russian art object.
Another project close to the heart of the Foundation has been the return to Russia of the Historical Bells of the Danilovsky Monastery, which were sold to the United States in 1930 and have been kept ever since in the Lowell house tower of Harvard University.
By Nathalie Cooper
