Crown Jewels

In what state are the Imperial Crown Jewels today? eg: big crown, small mcrown, sceptre, orb, coronation robes? Where are they located?

[State Armory]

The Imperial Crown jewels may be seen in the State Armory building located inside the Moscow Kremlin. Here you will find many Imperial crowns, thrones, sceptres and orbs belonging to various rulers from the 13th to the 19th century such as Michael Feodorovich, Ivan the Terrible and Paul I. Coronation outfits are also presented which includes those worn by Nikolai II and Alexandra Feodorovna.

There is a special limited access collection in the same building known as the Diamond Fund which houses Russias most precious pieces acquired from the 18th century to the present. Here you can view the Imperial Crown of Catherine the Great and the numerous jewelled gifts such as the magnificent Orlov diamond and including a spectacular sapphire which Alexander II presented to his wife Empress Maria Alexandrovna.
   

Finally!!  

What do you have to/be to get access to the Diamond Fund?

You are able to obtain tickets to the Diamond Fund through any tourist agency or through the concierge at any major hotel.  You might have to wait on line, but you can get in without too much bother, if you are a foreign tourtist.

If you go to the "Jewels of the Romanovs" site on the ALexander Palace netweork, you may see many pieces from the collections.

Best,

Nick

It is best to purchase a combined ticket, for both the Armory and then the Diamond Fund. The tickets are timed to permit a manageable number of visitors and groups through - however there is no problem moving freely around once inside.

If you are fluent in Russian you can obtain a few tickets for the Diamond Fund inside the Armory - but that risky exercise very much depends on crowd numbers and the mood of those on duty. I was lucky I chose a good day!

What you will see is awesome!!!

I am curious about the Moon of the Mountain
and the Polar Star (Ruby??).  Are they in a museum?  Does anyone know where I may see pictures?

thank you

Kyriaki, the Polar Star is a large regular white diamond, so called because when you view the stone from it's table the facets on the underside are perfectly cut so as to resmble the eight points of a compass. (N, NW, W SW S etc) hence the name of star. It is beautiful, but I only have a picture in an old chemistry text book, and can't fathom how to post images! Keep searching, there are lots of Famous diamond related sites. Good luck

thank you, DOMOVOII
I had read somewhere --of course now I don't remember where-- that the Polar Star was ruby but that did not make sense to me.  I wonder about the history of these two jewels..I will keep searching