Faberge museum is the newest and probably the most anticipated museum in St Petersburg. It holds 14 large Faberge eggs, the majority of which used to belong to Russian royal family, today it is the largest collection of that type in the world. Besides that, you can see many other jewelry pieces made by Faberge company or by the contemporaries of Carl Faberge.
Location: Fontanka river embankment, 21 (Shuvalov palace)
Faberge museum schedule: daily from 10:00 to 21:00. Friday is a day off.
Ticket office: from 09:30 to 20:15
Group guided tours: usually there are 2 tours in English a day sometime between 10:00 and 18:00.
Independent visit: from 18:00 to 21:00. It’s not a guided tour, you can visit the museum on your own.
Faberge museum is situated in the newly restored Shuvalov palace. Its history started in 2004 , when Russian businessman Viktor Vekselberg bought a collection of Faberge items from the heirs of Malcolm Forbes and founded the “Links of time” fund. The main mission of this fund is to return to Russia the objects of art that were lost during the Soviet period. In order to open this museum, Shuvalov palace was rented and restoration works there started. The museum opened for general public at the end of March 2014.
How to visit Faberge museum?
Since Faberge museum is quite new, they are still testing the system, and so there can be changes in the future.
There are 3 visiting options: joining a group tour in English, private tour or independent visit.
Joining a group tour in English
Faberge museum started to sell tickets for English tours online .They have 1-2 tours in English every day except Friday, but the number of people in a group is limited to 15 or 18, so only very few tickets for English tours are available each day.
“Independent” visit
If you couldn’t join a scheduled English tour, you can buy tickets for independent evening visit. You’ll be on your own without a guide, but it’s possible to rent an audioguide or take a brochure. Independent visits are possible daily except Friday from 18:00 to 21:00, tickets are sold from 17:45 to 20:15 in the ticket office.
Private tour
Private tours are to be booked in advance and they are REALLY expensive: the price of admission only is 9000 rub, the price is valid for a group of up to 15 people. It’s the same, be it 1 or 15 people in a group, so it makes more sense for larger parties only. Please note that it’s the price of admission , guiding is payed extra. If you are interested in Faberge museum private tour please contact me at stpetetrip@gmail.com
Some important information for Faberge museum visit:
- It’s prohibited to take photos of jewelry collection. The only area where you can take pictures is the main staircase.
- The museum is not recommended for little children. If you are with a small kid, I advice to contact museum administration in advance as in the past they didn’t allow at least preschool children into the museum. Their e-mail is 3332655@fsv.ru
- They sell no more than 5 museum tickets to one person