The former manor of the Golitsins princes is situated near the State Museum of Fine Arts, at the end of the street. Prince S.M. Golitsin, the owner of a picture gallery that was called a "Moscow Hermitage", lived here. The prince established a museum in the ground floor of his house. He exhibited ivory vases that previously belonged to Maria-Antoinette, books from marquise Pompadour's library, pictures by Rafael and Rubens, and marble girandoles from Pompeii.
Writer A.N.Ostrovsky lived in the house, here he wrote his plays including "The Dowerless". "Talents and Admirers" and "A Man's Heart isn't Made of Stone". I.S.Turgenev, D.V.Grigorovich and P.I.Chaikovsky all visited him here.
A scientific institution is now located here.
Bolshoi Znamensky street stretches behind the Museum of Fine Arts. The former palace of Prince Nikolai Trubetskoy is located here.
The history of this house is very interesting. In the 18th century it belonged to A.E.Stolypin, who was a theatre-lover and established a theatre in his house where "farces were enacted wonderfully". Later, the house passed into the hands of prince Khovansky who sold it to prince Trubetskoy. He, in turn, sold the house to Sergey Ivanovich Shchukin, a representative of one of the largest merchant families in Russia and a famous collector of Western painting. He introduced French impressionists to Russia. At first people were unable to understand or accept them. But Shchukin was sure he would become famous for exhibiting these pictures. He bought "Flowers in the Vase" by Paul Cezanne and "Lilac" by Claude Monet. The collection was replenished with pictures of Degas, Pissarro, Renoir, Paul Gauguin. The collector's last passion was Pablo Picasso. The collection comprised 13 pictures.