NEW YORK, N.Y.- Over Thanksgiving weekend, a team of practiced installers convened at Christie’s flagship headquarters in Rockefeller Center to begin construction and installation of one of the most anticipated exhibitions in U.S. auction history: the complete Collection of Elizabeth Taylor. This stunning display of nearly 2,000 individual items from the personal collection of America’s last great film star and fashion icon will open to the public on Saturday, December 3 for an unprecedented ten-day exhibition that runs through December 12. Christie’s has devoted all 300,000 square feet of its facility to this museum-quality exhibition of Elizabeth Taylor’s collections of jewelry, fashion, accessories, fine art, film memorabilia, costumes and decorative items. The auctions will take place December 13-16 and are expected to exceed $50 million in total.

Conceived as a visual journey through great moments in Elizabeth Taylor’s remarkable life, the exhibition unfolds through a series of rooms and vignettes devoted to the many awe-inspiring items from the Collection. Throughout the exhibit, archival films and photographs place individual objects into the context of her film roles, career highlights, and her many personal milestones and achievements. Among the highlights of the exhibition are:

*The Diamond Room – an up-close tour through Elizabeth Taylor’s most iconic jewels, with her 33.19 carat D-color stunner, the Elizabeth Taylor Diamond, as its centerpiece

*The Lifetime Achievement Room – a special display of Elizabeth Taylor's honors and humanitarian awards, intermingled with memorabilia and costumes from her many beloved film roles

*The Icon’s Closet – an awe-inspiring walk through a treasure trove of flawlessly-maintained haute couture and ready-to-wear fashion and accessories, with over 200 designer handbags alone

*The Art Gallery – the first comprehensive exhibition of Elizabeth Taylor’s impressive fine art collection, including master works by Van Gogh, Frans Hals, Degas, Pissarro, Renoir, and Warhol.

The displays are so rich in content that it is expected the average visitor will need about an hour to complete a tour through the complete exhibition. An extensive publications library offers visitors the opportunity to preview the Collection’s lavishly illustrated catalogues, limited-edition collector’s sets, and other souvenir publications.

Following the ten-day New York exhibition, Christie’s will host four days of live auctions, beginning with Elizabeth Taylor’s most iconic jewels on the evening of December 13. The week continues with day and evening sales of Jewels, Haute Couture, Fashion and Accessories, Fine and Decorative Art, and Film Memorabilia (including costumes) through December 16. Additional items of fine jewelry, fashion, handbags and accessories will be offered in an online-only auction running from Dec. 3-17, and Impressionist and Modern Art from the Collection will be offered at Christie’s London in February 2012.

The exhibition at Christie’s New York is expected to draw huge crowds to Rockefeller Center during the peak of the holiday season in December. A three-month global tour of highlights from the Collection has included stops in Moscow, London, Los Angeles, Dubai, Geneva, Paris and Hong Kong. Tickets to October’s Los Angeles tour stop sold out online within a matter of days, and Christie’s added extra, late-night viewing hours to accommodate the many fans and collectors who came to see the exhibition.

In keeping with Elizabeth Taylor’s life-long devotion to humanitarian causes, Christie’s is pleased to announce that a portion of the profits generated by exhibition admissions, events and select publications related to the exhibitions will be donated to The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation (ETAF). Founded in 1991, ETAF provides funding to AIDS service organizations around the world to assist those living with HIV and AIDS.