Imperial Russia exhibit opens in London

LONDON, Dec. 11 (UPI) -- An exhibit featuring more than 40 ceremonial costumes worn by the czars and court officials of Imperial Russia has opened at a London museum.

The "Magnificence of the Tsars," featuring numerous pieces that have never been publicly displayed, is to run at the Victoria and Albert museum through March 29, 2009.

The BBC said the museum temporarily loaned 18th- and 19th-century items from its collections to the Kremlin's Armoury Museum in Moscow for its fall show, "Two Centuries of British Fashion," in exchange for the pieces it needed for the "Tsars" exhibition.

University of London Russian history Professor Orlando Figes described many of the Russian ensembles now on display at the Victoria and Albert museum as "astonishingly gorgeous," while Mark Jones, director of the museum, told the BBC the "Tsars" exhibition featured "objects of exceptional historic importance from one of the world's greatest museums."

Russia's last czar, Nicholas II, abdicated the throne in 1917 and was killed alongside his wife and children by Bolshevik revolutionaries in July 1918.