A handwritten sketch with an autograph (without wood). Fedor Shechtel

Fyodor Shekhtel is one of the largest Russian architects of the turn of the XIX-XX centuries, the recognized leader of Russian Art Nouveau - the last architectural style of pre-revolutionary Moscow, which largely determined its appearance. Shechtel created more than 200 architectural projects, and more than 80 buildings built by him have been preserved.

In 1893, Schechtel received an order, which became a turning point in his life. Savva Morozov ordered the architect to build a mansion (Zinaida Morozova's mansion on Spiridonovka), which he saw as a Gothic castle - the architect managed to realize his dreams.

The mansion has become a true decoration of Moscow. A rather strict style dictated its own rules: the architect did not offer many decorative decorations, the details were enlarged. Shechtel was the first architect to involve the novice artist M. A. Vrubel in interior design, who decorated the small Gothic living room of the mansion with three panels "Morning", "Noon" and "Evening", executed the sculpture "Robert and Bertram" for the grand staircase and made a stained glass drawing depicting a knight on horseback. Such so-called "Gothic mansions" have become a kind of business card of Schechtel.