The Romanov residence is now a museum. Since the 1570s, his plot of land was owned by Nikita Romanovich, a boyar, governor of Tver, brother-in-law of Ivan the Terrible, who married Nikita’s sister Anastasia, and grandfather of the first tsar of the Romanov dynasty, Mikhail Fyodorovich.
There are several different historical versions of how Nikita Romanovich came to own this vast swath of land that occupied the entire block. The most widespread account is that the estate on Varvarka Street was transferred to Nikita Romanovich in the 1540s after his marriage to Varvara Ivanovna Khovrina-Golovina. Nikita Romanovich was one of the richest aristocrats of his time and is referenced in folk songs as the “kind boyar”, unlike other high ranking oprichniki, such as the hated Malyuta Skuratov.
Despite his familial ties, Nikita Romanovich fell from the graces of Ivan the Terrible, the husband of his late sister Anastasia. In 1565, Englishman Sir Jerome Horsey wrote that Ivan the Terrible “selected one of his bandits and sent him and 200 archers to pillage Nikita Romanovich. They took everything from him — weapons, horses, utensils, other goods worth £40,000, seized his properties, and left him and his family in such a poor state that the next day Nikita Romanovich came to us at the English Court asking for low-grade wool to make clothes for himself and his family, and also asked us for any sort of aid.” At the end of Ivan the Terrible’s reign, Nikita Romanovich was back in favor with the boyars and was part of the tsar’s close circle.
After his death in 1586, Nikita Romanovich’s estate was passed onto his sons. One son, Fyodor Nikitich, who would give birth to the future tsar of the same name, was described by the Dutch diplomat Isaac Massa as a “kind and handsome man, who had such an attractive physique that tailors in Moscow had a saying for when clothes fit someone well — “the second Fyodor Nikitich”. He rode a horse so artfully that everyone who watched him ride was amazed.”
When the son of Patriarch Philaret, Mikhail Romanov, known as Mikhail I, ascended to the throne in 1613, the house on Varvarka Street was given the name “Old Tsar’s Court”. The young tsar, his mother Martha (a nun), and his father Patriarch Philaret openly spent time at the house built by the tsar’s grandfather. The family celebrated ceremonial services in their home church, where they hung their icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
In 1631, after his mother Martha passed away, the Tsar transferred his family estate and all the buildings to the Znamensky Monastery, in memory of his mother.
According to another version, the monastery was founded a few years before her death in 1629 in honor of the birth of Alexey Mikhailovich, the future heir to the throne. The icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary became the monastery’s central holy relic.
The Romanov house was reconstructed many times due to the numerous fires, and the outward appearance changed over the course of several centuries. The present-day palace aesthetic dates back to the middle of the 19th century. In 1856, when Emperor Alexander II was in Moscow for his coronation, he visited the family home of the reigning dynasty and was distraught by the poor condition. He ordered to buy up the former state-owned monk cells that the monastery rented out, and to turn them into the museum ‘Palace of the Romanov Boyars’. The restoration of the chambers was entrusted to the architect Fyodor Richter.
V.F. Timm, lithography, 1857
Richter carried out rigorous surveys and structural tests on the chambers. He identified three preserved floors:
a white-stone and brick basement from
the 15th-16th centuries, a ground floor,
and a second floor from the 17th century.
Under his restoration, a balcony and grand staircase were built, and the upper wooden floor got a makeover with painted door arches, ceramic ovens, and custom wallpaper. August 22, 1859, marked the official opening of the museum ‘Palace of the Romanov Boyars’. The last Russian tsar Nicholas II visited the museum on May 15, 1913, as part of the Moscow celebrations commemorating the 300-year rule of the Romanov dynasty. The museum closed in 1917.
Newsreel of the imperial family's visit to the residence of the Romanov boyars and Znamensky Monastery during celebrations marking the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty
In 1923, the house reopened as a branch of the Armory Chamber and was renamed the ‘Boyar House of the 17th Century’. In accordance with new state ideology, the purpose of the exposition was to present the lifestyle of the elite Russian government class of the 17th century, without focusing on the royal family. In 1932, the palace was transferred to the Historical Museum and given the new name ‘Museum of Boyar Daily Life’. In addition to the main spectacle, the museum held other exhibitions, for example ‘Women Under Capitalism’ and "Social and Economic Significance of Boyars in the 17th Century’. For a long time, the museum grounds and annex were occupied by tenants.
From 1940 to 1941, Zaryadye was actively preparing for the construction of the Second House of the USSR Council of People’s Commissars (Sovnarkom), According to the blueprint, the new compound of buildings would occupy the entire Zaryadye area down to Varvarka. All historical and architectural monuments were subject to immediate demolition. One of the Sovnarkom building project designers, Soviet Academy of Architecture President Victor Vesnin, along with the support of the architectural community, wanted to save a piece of Zaryadye’s architectural heritage. He suggested to dismantle and relocate the Kolomona part of the Kitay Gorod wall that included towers, the Church of the Conception of Saint Anna, and the House of Boyars. Vesnin’s initiative was supported by Sovnarkom, and plans and budgets were drawn up for the dismantling, transport, and reassembly of the architectural monuments. But these plans, and the construction of the new Sovnarkom building, would never materialize. On June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany invaded the USSR.
In the 1950s and 1960s, the conversation to continue Richter’s restoration efforts was revived in academic circles. Academics criticized Richter’s 19th-century restoration for being excessively stylized — they believed from a technical perspective that the interior and exterior décor was highly embellished to the detriment of historical accuracy. As a result, the restoration was deemed unauthentic and nearly all the ovens, white wallpaper, painting on archways, and wood engravings were removed. In 1964, the museum was again given a new name — The State Historical Museum Exhibition Fund.
The museum’s next large-scale renovations occurred in 1984 and 1991 and greatly changed the aesthetic of the chambers. The interior design was reverted back to Richter’s initial vision. In 2009, the museum was given its present-day name ‘Palace of the Romanov Boyars’. The museum showcases the life of boyars in the second half of the 17th century.
Today the museum is closed for restoration and should open to visitors in the summer of 2018.