Moscow Kremlin (Fabergé egg)

Moscow Kremlin Fabergé egg
Moscow Kremlin Egg
Year delivered	1906
Customer	Alexandra Fedorovna
Current owner
Individual or institution	Kremlin Armoury
Design and materials
Materials used	Onyx, gold, enamel, glass
Height	36.1 centimetres (14.2 in)
Width	18.5 centimetres (7.3 in)
Surprise	music box

The Moscow Kremlin Egg (or the Uspenski Cathedral Egg) is a jewelled Easter egg made under the supervision of the Russian jeweller Peter Carl Fabergé in 1906 for Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. It was presented by Nicolas II as an Easter gift to his wife, the Czarina Alexandra Fyodorovna. It is currently held in the Kremlin Armoury Museum in Moscow, and it is one of the few Fabergé eggs that have never left Russia.

The Moscow Kremlin Egg is by far the largest of the Fabergé eggs and was inspired by the architecture of the Cathedral of the Assumption (Uspenski) in Moscow. This cathedral was where all the Tsars of Russia were crowned, including Nicholas II himself.

The cathedral dome (in white opalescent vitreous enamel) is removable, and the remarkably crafted interior of the church can be seen. Its carpets, tiny enameled icons and high altar on an oval glass plate are made visible through four triple windows, surmounted by a gold cupola and flanked by two square, two circular stylized turrets, the former based on the Spassky Tower. The tower bears the coat of arms of the Russian Empire and the coat of arms of Moscow, inset with 'chiming clocks'. It stands on a crenellated gold base and octagonal white onyx plinth designed as a pyramid, and built of smaller pyramids

The surprise in this egg is music. The base of the egg contains a gold music box that plays two cherubim chants, traditional Easter hymns can be played when a clockwork mechanism is wound up by a gold key. One of the hymns is the "Izhe Khveruviny", a favorite hymn of Nicholas II.