Descendants of the Sheremetv dynasty have gathered in St. Petersburg to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the Fountain House. Fourteen members of this renowned noble family, citizens of France, the US, Morocco and Russia, gathered in the Northern Capital for this occasion.

The delegation is headed by Pyotr Sheremetev (Pierre Chérémetieff according to his French passport), chairman of the Russian Musical Society in Paris, rector of the Sergei Rachmaninoff Russian Conservatory of Paris (Conservatoire russe de Paris Serge Rachmaninoff) and honorary chairman of the International Council of Russian Compatriots. Pyotr Sheremetev is the great grandson of Count Sergei Sheremetev – a member of the State Council of the Russian Empire, archeologist, historian and honorary member of the Academy of Sciences.

The guests visited the Sheremetev Palace, which belonged to the family for 200 years. The building is hosting an exhibit called The Fountain House: Meeting after 300 Years, which illustrates all of the periods of the periods of the history of the estate – from its founding in 1712 to our era. The Sheremetevs saw the personal items of their ancestors, the family’s renowned gun collection as well as family relics – icons which belonged to the family over the course of many years.

Today, December 18, the descendants of the Sheremetev family will visit the Saint Alexander Nevsky Lavra. One of the monastery’s vaults is the final resting place of eight members of the family. A memorial service will be held by Nazary, Vicar of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, Vicar of the St. Petersburg Eparchy and Bishop of Vyborg.

© Russkiy Mir. 18 December, 2012

Vladimir Tolstoy, the great-great-grandson of Leo Tolstoy, has been appointed a cultural adviser to the Russian President Vladimir Putin. The appointment was made in May, shortly after Putin returned to the Kremlin as president after serving as the prime minister for four years.

Since 1994, Vladimir Tolstoy has been the director of Yasnaya Polyana, the writer's estate and museum. Situated near the city of Tula, south of Moscow, the writer's house and grounds were turned into a museum in 1921. Leo Tolstoy's daughter, Alexandra, was the first director of the museum, where the writer is buried. The house and grounds are famous for preserving the atmosphere of pre-revolutionary Russian country life.

In his new role as a cultural adviser to the president, Vladimir Tolstoy told The Art Newspaper that he will be addressing a range of cultural issues, from literature to music, theatre, cinema and museums, especially those in protected zones such as Tolstoy's museum.

While he was the director of the museum, he made it more accessible to tourists, scholars and Tolstoy family members, whom he gathers there regularly for reunions. Tolstoy's wife, Yekaterina Tolstaya, who has worked at the museum for years, has been named its new director. She told the Russian media that one of her first tasks as the director will be to build a store for the estate's collection. Museum stores have become a sticking point for Russian museums, and the question has been addressed by Putin at meetings with museum directors and the minister of culture.

Tolstoy told The Art Newspaper that stores are “a ripe, even over-ripe topic”, as so many museums are forced to keep their collections in poorly equipped memorial buildings. He said that he had managed to get Yasnaya Polyana on a federal funding programme to help build a museum store and visitor centre by 2018.

Tolstoy said he did not take on the role of adviser solely to advance the Tolstoy museum's cause, but that he will be keeping a close eye on the situation there. Vladimir Gruzdev, the regional governor of Tula, visited the estate in June and said that Leo Tolstoy must be promoted as the region's greatest brand for developing the local economy through tourism.

One of Vladimir Tolstoy's suggestions, supported by Gruzdev, is to unite the towns and villages surrounding Yasnaya Polyana into a single administrative entity, which would make it easier to gather support for the Tolstoy brand and to build hotels and transport links to bring more visitors to the estate.

The main house alone has reached its maximum capacity of 100,000 visitors a year (no more than 30-35 groups a day of no more than 15 people each are allowed in). Overall, 300,000 people a year visit the estate, but a museum store open to the public would increase visitor numbers.

“This way, while preserving the house and not subjecting it to any additional stress, we'll be able to increase the number of visitors to Yasnaya Polyana by almost five times, that is from 100,000 [people a year] to half a million over the next five to seven years,” Tolstoy told The Art Newspaper.

© The Art Newspaper. 28 June, 2012

The palace of Counts Stroganov has collapsed at the former estate at Volyshovo.

The Volyshovo estate is situated 40 kilometers south of the ancient city Porhov, an ancient 12th century fortress in the Pskov region. This estate belonged to Stroganoffs from the 1850s, when the family built a main house, farm buildings and stables, as well as a classical temple in the estate park.

The horse stables are still used to this day for the breeding and raising of horses.

©  Ð’ести.Ru. 6 February, 2012

The restoration of the Moscow region's 103 tsarist country estates--many of which are crumbling--is a top priority, Deputy Culture Minister Svetlana Gorushkina said at the conference, organized by the Association of European Businesses. Unable to afford to develop the sites themselves, she said, the ministry is seeking private investment through PPPs.

A ruined 17th-century palace more than 100 kilometers from Moscow, Puschino-on-Nara is one of the targets. If the estate were restored Gorushkina said, "it would be appropriate for use as a vacation home or a resort."

© The Moscow Times. 16 October, 2011

A unique exhibition dedicated to the life of the Russian nobility in the mid-19th century has opened at the Yusupov Palace on the Moika in St. Petersburg.

The World of the Russian Nobility includes costumes, porcelain, furniture, toys, photographs and art work, among other items from the vast repositories of the State Hermitage Museum.

© Royal Russia. 14 October, 2011