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Close to 368 items from the Cartier workshops are being exhibited in the Riding Hall of Prague Castle. It is the biggest Cartier exhibition ever presented.
The exhibition, Cartier in Prague Castle – the Power of Style, was under production for two years and, as well as trustee Eva Eisler, was supported by tens of people from Prague Castle and from all Cartier branches all over the world.

Good sample from the collection

“The collection of Cartier jewellery, which was started in 1983, accumulated up to 1,400 items,” stated Pierre Rainero, Cartier Heritage Director. In Prague we are exhibiting the majority of the collection and there is no exaggeration in saying that the Prague exhibition can only be compared to those held in the Moscow’s Kremlin Museum or Beijing Forbidden City, the significant difference is that the Prague exhibition is truly the biggest, beside which, the highly evocative space of the Riding Hall is most fitting,” said Rainero.

The Cartier exhibition is unique because hardly any jewellery houses make their collections available to the general public. Clearly this is a reason why Cartier exhibitions have attendance rates in the hundreds of thousands.¨

Platinum, gold, diamonds and truly great artistry

Prague Castle Riding Hall will host a glittering and sparkling array of exquisite pieces which have on many occasions dictated the subsequent styles of jewellery in the world. There are diamonds which, thanks to Cartier, have at the beginning of last century again become a centre of attention.

You can find here the collection of Tutti Frutti jewels where Cartier, for the first time and against all European traditions, created jewels from different coloured stones. There are even watches which have led the field in watch design for many years.

Jewels with a story

“There isn’t a bigger victory than when I bought a jewel for myself,” said once famous Mexican actress Maria Felix, who became famous in Spanish films. She truly loved Cartier jewellery and at the exhibition you can see some of her choices, e.g. diamond snake, snake earrings or crocodile necklace which was created based on small live crocodiles brought by the actress to Paris.

Another amazing jewel is a thousand carats necklace which belongs to an Indian maharaja from Patiala, who ordered at Cartier with the words ”I want everyone to see it even when I am riding on an elephant”. Cartier had stones from the maharaja’s family collection available which he had brought to Paris.

One of the most amazing pieces is the academic sword of famous French poet Jean Cocteau. “The artist who was at the same time also a painter designed it himself, so it is Cocteay by Cartier,” sadi Rainero. In the descriptions under the jewels you can find lots of famous names, mainly from aristocratic, artistic and business fields.

There is something for everyone

During the 160 years of Cartier’s existence have been jewels and other objects created in a wide variety of styles. You can find art deco and Egypt styles, oriental jewels next to Indian or typically European. The most modern are jewels from the eighties.

Huge ambitions of the exhibitors

The exhibition will run untill 17th October and its organisers are expecting 12 thousand visitors. It is not unrealistic, because this amount of gemstones together can be only seen in very few places in the world, even one day before opening tourists were flooding into the Riding Hall.

The exhibition is further complemented with a screening where you can find out about the production of the jewels and more.  More about the exhibition can be found on www.cartiervystava. It should be noted that the entrance fee is cheaper during the week then on the weekends.