Hillwood Estate Museum & Gardens

Collections: important collections of russian imperial art, french decorative arts, costumes, textiles and jewelry are displayed in the mansion and through special exhibitions. Highlights of the russian collection include an 1884 diamond crown worn by the last empress alexandra at her marriage to nicholas ii; and a comprehensive collection of some eighty works by faberge, including two imperial easter eggs. The french holdings include funishings, tapestries and porcelain, primarily from the 18th century, numerous pieces of famed sevres porcelain and spectacular beauvais tapestries designed by francois boucher. The fashion holdings span the first seven decades of the twentieth century and the jewelry collection features historical pieces and works from the main jewelry houses fot eh 1900's, including cartier, harry winston adn van cleef & arpels. In total, hillwood's collections include some 20,000 objects.

Interpretation and programs: through its immersive visitor experience, robust calendar of special exhibitions and public and educational programs, hillwood serves over 80,000 individuals annually. All visitors to hillwood have access to informational tours, including docent-led tours, self-guided tours accompanied by rich informational booklets available in english, french, spanish and russian, and self-guided audio tours for the mansion and gardens, all of which are supplemented by explanatory object labels.hillwood routinely engages with community partners that include, but are not limited to the art deco society, environmental film festival, levine school of music, rainbow families, kids eurofest, girl scout troops region-wide, as well as embassies such as french, belgian, spanish and the netherlands.