Easter eggs are well-known Russia memorabilia, whose fame outside of this country is probably second only to painted wooden matryoshka dolls. According to a tradition, the first Easter egg Saint Mary Magdalene coequal with the apostles gave to Roman Emperor Tiberius. Shortly after Christ the Savior's Ascension, Mary Magdalene came to Rome to preach the gospel. In those times, people coming to see the emperor were supposed to bring him a present. Wealthy people used to bring jewelry, and poor people, what they could afford. Therefore, Mary Magdalene, once a noble and rich woman, who then lost everything, except her faith in Jesus, offered to Emperor Tiberius a chicken egg and exclaimed: "Christ has resurrected! The emperordoubting her wordsnoted that nobody could rise from dead and it was as hard to believe in what she had said awhite egg might turn red. Tiberius was still saying those words when the egg began changing its color and turned scarlet. Thus, from the very first century of Christianity, colored eggs have always been the symbol of Jesus Resurrection and, with it a purification in the name of a new, better life to the believers in God the Son. The eggs red color has symbolized Christ's blood and at the same time was the symbol of the Resurrection. The celebration of Easter in Russia was introduced in the late 10th century. Orthodox Easter is observed on the first. Sunday following the spring equinox and March full moon. Easter in Russia was accompanied by ceremonies that came from pagan times but now consecrated by the Light of Christ. They were the consecration of Easter cakes, the preparation of cheese mass, the painting of eggs, etc. The tradition of giving and receiving painted eggs on Easter has existed in Russia from time immemorial. Once, in the reign of Czar Alexis (1645-1676), some 37000 eggs were prepared by Easter to be given out. Bogdan Saltanov, royal icon painter of Armenian extraction, gave Czar Alexis for Easter in 1675 an original gift: "three platters: one containing five goose eggs with gilded herbal designs, another containing seven duck eggs decorated in various colors over gold, and the third containing seven chicken eggs gilded lavishly: in addition, a mica box with forty chicken eggs decorated in various colors over gold." In the 18th-19th centuries, artistically decorated Easter eggs become so widespread among the various segments of the Russian population that from that time it is possible to speak about Easter eggs as a peculiar type of popular decorative applied art. Recently, the famous Winter Easter Egg by Faberge, which Emperor Nicholas II gave to his mother, Empress Maria Fedorovna, for the 300th anniversary of the House of Romanov, has been sold for a sensational sum of $7.5 million at a Christie's auction in Geneva. The art of Easter eggs is a whole new world, a feature in the living image of Russia.