Starting Aug. 30 you won't have to be a high roller to eyeball a roomful of jewels in Las Vegas. That's when the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art at the casino-resort opens "Faberge and the Age of Imperial Russia," with scores of the master jeweler's works. Tickets go on sale today.
The exhibit, drawing on the Kremlin State Museum and two private collections, includes three of the 50 imperial Easter eggs that Peter Carl Faberge fashioned for the czars' wives and the dowager empress. They are the 1900 Trans-Siberian Railway Egg, which took nine years to create and which contains a miniature locomotive and five train cars; the 1906 Moscow Kremlin Egg, the largest one, with a music box and a model of Uspenski Cathedral; and the 1908 Alexander Palace Egg, made of jade and rubies, with portraits of the five children of Czar Nicholas II.
Most of the more than 100 exhibit items, including cigarette cases, handbags, jewelry and prayer books, were designed by Faberge, gallery president Andrea Bundonis said last week. But there will also be period costumes, including the coronation uniform worn by Nicholas II.
The show runs through Jan. 26. Advance purchase of tickets is recommended. Call (877) 957-9777. Prices are $15 for adults, $12 for students and children 12 and younger. Starting Aug. 30, the gallery will have expanded hours, 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily, Bundonis said.
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Jungle Luxury and Jaguars at Beach Resort in Belize
A small, exclusive beachside eco-resort has opened in Belize near the Cockscomb Basin National Park jaguar preserve.
The Kanantik Reef & Jungle Resort, under development for five years, consists of 25 thatch-roofed, air-conditioned cabanas on a private Caribbean beach 18 miles south of the town of Dangriga (formerly Stann Creek) and about 100 miles south of Belize City. Its name is derived from a Mayan word meaning "to take care," the owners say.
All-inclusive rates of $300 per person per day, double occupancy, include all meals (with Belizean beers and local rum); water sports such as snorkeling, scuba diving, kayaking and sailing on catamarans; and daily guided tours such as bird-watching, canoeing, jungle hiking and visits to Mayan ruins and the jaguar preserve (four miles north of the resort). Fishing excursions are available at extra cost.
Guests can fly from Belize City to the resort's private airstrip or to Dangriga, where a resort driver will meet them, or they can drive about 2 1/2 hours from Belize City. Contact the resort for details.
