On 27 September 2006 Director of the State Hermitage Mikhail Piotrovsky received the Carl Faberge Award at a ceremony held in the museum.

The Carl Faberge Award is part of the FABERGE - IMAGE OF RUSSIA project initiated by Tatyana Fedorovna Faberge, the great granddaughter of the famous jeweler. The project is intended to promote a better image of Russia abroad and is supported by the Russian side.

Within the context of this project, a number of books have been published in various languages including the History of Faberge, Faberge and Petersburg Jewelers, and Imperial Easter Eggs. A magazine entitled Tatyana FABERGE has been created to address a broad readership and provide information about Russia's cultural and historical riches, about interesting people and important events in the cultural and business life of the country, as well as about Russia's compatriots abroad. There are plans for this publication to start in a bilingual Russian-English version and then to be issued in French and a number of other European languages.

According to its founders, the Carl Faberge Award will receive support from the state and business circles and should become a Russian equivalent to the Nobel Prize. The award was established in memory of one of the most outstanding Russian artists and entrepreneurs. It is given to the world's best scholars, artists, politicians and businessmen for their contributions to the creation of a positive image of Russia. It has been proposed that the awards ceremony be held in the Moscow Kremlin or in St Petersburg's Hermitage.

The functions of jury have been entrusted to an Association of Trustees of the Carl Faberge Award, among whose confirmed members are Prince Nikolai Romanovich Romanov, Sara Faberge (granddaughter of Carl Faberge), Natalya Borisovna Helseltine (nee Princess Golitsyna) and the collector and patron of the arts Raymond Guggenheim.

The Carl Faberge Awards Ceremony took place in Moscow in June 2006 during celebrations of the 160th anniversary of the birth of Carl Faberge. The award was given to the Russian Academy of Sciences, as represented by its President, Yuri Sergeevich Osipov, and to the city of Moscow, as represented by the Mayor of the capital, Yuri Mikhailovich Luzhkov.

Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director of the State Hermitage

Tatyana Faberge, great granddaughter of Carl Faberge

Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director of the State Hermitage, and Tatyana Faberge, great granddaughter of Carl Faberge, at the awards ceremony