Friday, April 17, 1998 | 10:56 a.m.
Call it a triumph for capitalism.
More than 1,100 historic Russian art objects that were covertly protected from destruction during the Soviet era by museum curators at risk of life and liberty are coming to the Rio Suite hotel-casino for one simple reason: money.
"We have made a significant contribution to the Peterhof," the 300 year-old summer palaces of the Russian czars, said David Hanlon, president and chief operating officer of the Rio.
"In today's world, the United States is the only country that can support such a large exhibit, because it is extremely expensive," said Vadim Znamenov, general director of the State Museum Reserve at Peterhof.
Rio officials weren't saying how much they're spending on the exhibit.
"I would prefer not to make this an event of what the Rio spent to bring this here," Hanlon said.
But the Rio is clearly expecting the exhibition -- the largest display of historic Russian objects ever in the United States -- to bring the resort national recognition and to increase visitorship.
Officials from the Rio and the Russian State Museum Reserve announced details of the exhibition during an elaborate news conference Thursday.
It was complete with authentic 18th Century Russian guards, a brunch of authentic Russian fare and a gift exchange. Hanlon, Znamenov, Nina Vernova, vice director of the Museum Reserve, and a translator entered the event in a procession, stepping to the strains of the Russian national anthem.
The exhibit will open Nov. 7 in a special 20,000-square-feet exhibit hall off the Rio's Masquerade Village. It will run until April 15, 1999. Tickets, which go on sale this Friday, will be $14, though Nevada residents will be offered discounts.
Cost was clearly not the only factor in the State Museum's decision to exhibit at the Rio. The resort beat out museums across the world for the right to display the Peterhof items in part because it offered to recreate entire Peterhof rooms. At Thursday's news conference, State Museum officials said they were particularly pleased the artifacts would not be displayed in standard museum format.
Items on display will include a plethora of objects from the Romanov dynasty, including thrones, clothing, gowns, dishes, paintings, religious items and reproductions of entire Peterhof rooms. The majority of the 1,100 objects, about 10 percent of Peterhof's total collection, will come from the palaces themselves. Several items are also being provided by the Forbes family.
Notable objects include the thrones of Peter the Great and other emperors, Peter the Great's full-dress uniform, the inkwell Nicolas II used to sign his abdication, the nightshirt Paul I wore the night he was murdered, and the Coronation Book of Alexander II, which the Guinness Book of World Records lists as Russia's largest book.
Galleries will include a room dedicated to the emperors that built and lived at Peterhof themselves. Starting with Peter the Great, who founded Peterhof in 1705, the Romanov Gallery will "show and characterize every emperor," Vernova said.
Other galleries will include interior reproductions of the railroad car in which Czar Nicolas II abdicated the throne in 1917, banquet and assembly halls, a drawing room, the bedroom of Alexander I, and the Art Gallery of Monplaisir, which will include 14 pieces of art from the real Monplaisir.
Officials are most excited about a gallery called Dining with the Czars, which will include five distinct porcelain dining sets and five authentic menus. Thomas Roberts, the Rio's vice president of leasing and development, said the resort will offer authentic Russian food outside the exhibit.
Also of interest to Las Vegas will be a gaming table and porcelain chips owned by Catherine the Great.
Znamenov said the idea of exhibiting historic Peterhof objects in a place like Las Vegas is not as odd as it seems. Peterhof and Las Vegas actually share a lot in common, he said.
"Peterhof is something that resembles Las Vegas, of all places," he said. "It's a moveable feast."
Znamenov explained Peterhof is a rambling expanse of 10 palaces on the Gulf of Finland. The grounds are punctuated with gold statues and more than 150 18th and 19th-century fountains.
"There is always sun in Peterhof," he said.
The Las Vegas exhibit will take place during the long Russian winter, while Peterhof is mostly quiet, Znamenov said.
Many of the objects in the exhibit will be available for viewing for the first time, Znamenov said. He explained many of the objects will be restored and in condition for display for the first time due to the Rio's financial help.
But there are other reasons many of the objects have never been displayed, officials said.
During Soviet times, "A great number of pieces of art were not permitted to be shown," Vernova said.
In fact, Soviet authorities sold many "first class" objects from Peterhof, and ordered others destroyed, Znamenov said.
"Museum employees have gone to great lengths to protect and save these objects," he said.
In 1937, a Peterhof curator was accused of trying to preserve objects that were "ideologically incorrect," Znamenov said. The curator was sentenced to five years in a labor camp and two years of exile.
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