Summary

The rare and exquisite Romanov Jewels will soon be on display in Memphis.

Source CONUS Archive
Record ID 3447
Story Slug Romanov Jewels
Location San Diego, CA
Format Pkg
Date 11/21/1997
Archive Time :45
TRT 2:15
Supers E.A. Carmean, Brooks Museum Director Tatiana Dudakova, Russian Diamond Fund/Voice of Translator Rod Starns, Reporting
Video Description CU OF SHINY JEWELRY, PEOPLE WALKING THROUGH EXHIBIT, SOT
Description The rare and exquisite Romanov Jewels will soon be on display in Memphis.
Script LEAD: Ticket sales are brisk for an upcoming exhibition in Memphis, Tennessee. The Priceless Romanov Jewels and Artwork will be on display beginning Sunday at the Brooks Museum in Memphis. The Jewels arrived in Tennessee from San Diego. That's where reporter Rod Starns got an up-close look at the Jewels of the Romanovs. SCRIPT: Here they are. And they've never been out before. These are the crown jewels, so to speak, of the Russian Empire. They are the Romanov Jewels. A collection spanning three centuries, never before taken out of Russia, never seen even by most Russians. SOT "When the communists came to power, they disappeared. A lot of people thought they had been sold off, over the years. In fact, they were squirreled away." Squirreled away beneath the Kremlin. There's a story of royalty and riches behind each of the 115 jewels... earrings with diamond bees mounted on invisible springs, designed to quiver whenever the Empress moved her head. A young Czar's baby rattle, filled with uncut diamonds... and the 15th largest blue sapphire in the world at 260 Carats. SOT "It was a gift from Alexander II to his wife. She loved the blue color and it matched her blue eyes." Here's a diamond tiara with a 35 carat yellow diamond in the center, a huge red stone once believed to be a ruby that belonged to Caesar Augustus... and a portrait covered not with a piece of glass, but with a flawless and perfectly clear 27 carat diamond. If you owned priceless jewels like these, you'd insist on keeping them in a vault. So do the Russians. That's why they're displayed in these bank vaults built into the museums walls and viewed through thick glass windows. That's just one of many precautions the Russians insisted on: SOT "More alarms, more cameras, triple locks on doors and that sort of thing. In terms of complexity, in terms of sheer value it's far bigger than anything we've done before." Together with paintings, clothing and religious objects, these treasures bring alive a vanished era of opulence. Rod Starns, Action Five News. TAG: The exhibition opens Sunday November 23rd at the Brooks Museum. ---- end ---
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