Christianity celebrates Easter today. Beyond whether or not a religion is professed, there is no doubt that in these times the date takes on a special meaning since any occasion is a good one to celebrate everything that means a rebirth after death, a revival after such a long time. ominous

The forty days between the end of Carnival, a pagan festival, and Holy Thursday are times of reflection and, according to the Christian liturgy, of accompanying Jesus in the fast that he did in the desert after his baptism. Fasting is surrender to God, it is preparation for Easter celebrations, it is fleeing from temptations and it is demonstrating love for Christ by emulating him in his sacrifice. In its beginnings it consisted of abstaining from bodily pleasures and eating the bare minimum based on legumes. That is, no meat, milk and no eggs. But of course... the chickens, those sinners, kept laying so that the eggs were cooked so they wouldn't turn ugly and could be eaten at Easter. Centuries later, in modern Europe, the custom began to decorate these eggs with paints of different colors and give them as a gift as a sign of rebirth, the joy of a new life and, also, the arrival of spring.

And if for Roman Catholicism Easter is fundamental, for the Orthodox Church it is the most important date. That is why it is not surprising that the most famous Easter eggs in the world were born in Russia - the imperial Fabergé eggs.

Because, starting from those simple eggs painted on the European family tables, in the 19th century, those who had some money had already begun to order real egg-shaped jewels from prestigious goldsmiths. And Alexander III, emperor of all the Russias, was not going to be less.

Although legend says that this tsar gave his wife a Fabergé egg to console her for her nostalgia for Denmark, her native country, the truth is that in 1885, the date of the first order, the couple had established themselves, had had their six children and Maria Fyodorovna was perfectly adapted to the Russian court. However, the emperor wanted to have a detail with her to commemorate the 20th anniversary of their marriage commitment, and on those Easter he commissioned Carl Fabergé, a craftsman based in Saint Petersburg, to make an egg inspired by a Danish jewel that had belonged to to his wife's great-aunt. It had to be simple on the outside but contain fabulous jewels on the inside. Something like the current Kindergarten so precious to our little ones.

The result was an egg made of gold but enameled in ivory; it contained a solid gold hen and other small jewels. Maria was fascinated and Alejandro, who adored her, decided that every Easter he would give her a jewel-egg. This is how the great collection of Fabergé imperial eggs arose.

The goldsmith improved year after year. His pieces were made of gold, platinum, silver and nickel and were adorned with small pieces of, among other minerals, jade, agate and lapis lazuli. And, of course, they contained precious stones of the highest quality. Inside they could have birds, portraits, ships, miniature trains or even small combs and hairpins for the Tsarina. Soon nothing was left of the simplicity of the first ivory egg, and the Romanovs' sense of opulence got the better of it.

On November 1, 1894, Tsar Alexander III died and was succeeded by his son Nicholas who, just a week after his father's burial, married his first cousin, Princess Alexandra of Hesse.

The couple were in love but the wedding was a bit grim and although Maria tried to give a warm welcome to her daughter-in-law, the truth is that it was difficult for her to resign herself to going from being the first lady of the court to being the empress dowager who must leave the palace and retire to the countryside. She was used to presiding over the big parties, something that Alejandra hated, so not only did she not resign herself to ostracism, but she followed the best of Saint Petersburg creating a kind of parallel social court.

In this environment we can sense the reaction of the lady when, on her first Easter as a widow, her son told her that he planned to continue with the custom of giving the empress consort a Faberge egg. We do not know if Nicolás had the intention of giving his mother an egg as well or it was the consequence of some phrase such as "Of course... you give that ungrateful upstart an egg and lightning strikes me", but the truth is that from 1895 the new tsar ordered eggs for his wife and her mother. And these were increasingly sumptuous and ornate. The stage of the eggs that commemorated events of the court or the country began: the coronation egg, the Trans-Siberian train egg, the Standard yacht egg and a long etcetera until completing 52 imperial eggs of those that have survived to this day and A total of 44 are perfectly located and preserved. Included in this figure is the egg called Constellation of the Tsarevich, commissioned by Nicholas in 1917 and that the advent of the Russian Revolution prevented Fabergé from finishing it.

In the 19th century, wealthy European families commissioned egg-shaped jewelry

The Romanovs were executed on July 17, 1918 but the eggs survived them and remain a symbol of their majesty and wealth to such an extent that trying to locate them was one of the great challenges for 20th century art collectors. Today there are ten of them in the Kremlin, nine in the Fabergé Museum in St. Petersburg, five in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, in the United States, three belong to the collection of Queen Elizabeth II of England and one is owned by the Prince Albert of Monaco. The rest is scattered in small museums or in private hands.

The last figure reached in an auction for a Fabergé egg reached the sum of 18 million euros but Sotheby's estimates that if any copy were sold today it could reach 30 million.

The Fabergé house in Saint Petersburg created thousands of other jewels and even special eggs for European aristocrats, but in 1917 the dream ended. The firm was nationalized, Carl fled to Switzerland, and two years later he passed away. His children ended up in Paris where they continued with the business until it was sold in 1937. Thus began a process of sales, acquisitions, and litigation over the brand, and the brand lost all its glamour. Under the Faberge umbrella, perfumes, clothing, nail polish and even a capsule collection of shampoo from actress Farrah Fawcett-Majors, star of Charlie's Angels and with thick, eighties hair, were named. In 1989 the brand was bought by the mass consumption multinational Unilever and marketed, as if to finish ruining its reputation, deodorants and cleaning supplies.

The Russian crown once had a collection of 52 fantastic Faberge eggs

In 2007, at last, it was resold to a company that repositioned it as a brand selling high-end jewelery items with offices in London, Hong Kong and New York. The first thing they did was a collection of egg-shaped pendants, the first since 1917. The launch campaign was in charge of the famous photographer Mario Testino, Lady Di's favorite, and he tried to restore all its prestige to the firm. The firm's director of special projects and ambassador is Sarah Fabergé, a great-granddaughter of Carl's.

It goes without saying that the Imperial Eggs were unique and unattainable. But the tradition continues today in our beautifully decorated chocolate eggs. Although it is true that judging by the current prices they seem to be gold and diamonds, there will always be some to give to the little princes and princesses of the house. May they serve as a symbol of resurgence after the difficult tests that we are having to overcome. We wish you, from these pages, a very happy Easter.