This is a gem collection housed in the building of the Armory. On display are the most precious items of the treasury: unique diamonds, antique jewelry, one of the world’s biggest gold nuggets – the so called “Triangle,” weighing 3.6 kg – as well as world-famous emeralds and sapphires and the crown of Catherine the Great, adorned with more than 5,000 diamonds. You can also admire the Orlov diamond, almost 190 carats, named after Catherine the Great’s lover, Prince Grigory Orlov.
In 1967 an exhibition entitled "" was opened in the Armoury building. It contained a world-famous collection of precious stones, masterpieces of 18th- and 19th-century jewelry and platinum and gold nuggets. The treasures of the Diamond Fund are part of the national state heritage.
Ever since 1922 they have come under the State Valuables Depository (Gokhran).
The nucleus of the collection consists of pieces of jewelry made for the royal court and the Imperial regalia, which were regarded as the property of the Crown, hence the term "crown valuables". Peter the Great placed the crown valuables in the safekeeping of the state following a decree in 1719, which declared the regalia to be the pride and glory of Russia. The collection of regalia in the Diamond Fund consists of the Great and Small crowns, maces, scepters, the Great Chain with the cross and star of the Order of St Andrew the First-Called and clasps to fasten the coronation mantle.
All these items and are of great artistic, historical and material value. They were used almost without changes at all the coronations right up to that of Nicholas II in 1896.
The Great Imperial Crown made in 1762 for the coronation of Catherine the Great by the court jeweler J.Pauzie represents the height of creative imagination, lavish beauty and skilled workmanship. It is adorned with five thousand diamonds arranged in a splendid pattern of laurel wreaths and oak branches.
The glitter of the diamonds is enhanced by two rows of gleaming pearls and the crown is topped by a huge red spinel, the second largest in the world, which weighs almost 400 carats.
