The so-called Russian Museum of P.F. Karabanov became one of these collections. He began acquiring objects of Russian ancientry in the 1790s, long before the uprise of mass interest in this phenomenon. Pavel Fyodorovich was the heir of old Russian nobles, where family relics were carefully preserved. He had been creating his domestic museum for more than fifty years. By the mid-19th century, the collection was already quite extensive consisting of a museum section that included works of decorative and applied art, a library with valuable manuscripts, old printed books and autographs of famous Russians, there was also a print room and a numismatics gallery. Contemporaries called P.F. Karabanov’s Museum "the second Armoury Chamber". When Emperor Nicholas I learned about the collection, he immediately decided to buy it. The owner was not ready to part with his "brainchild" during his lifetime, but decided to bequeath it after his death to the Emperor, and in his person — to the Homeland. In May 1851, after the death of P.F. Karabanov, his private museum was moved from the Moscow mansion on Petrovka Street to the Armoury Chamber. This is the only time in the history of the State Treasury that it has received as a gift not one or a few objects, as is often the case, but the entire collection. However, by the will of the Emperor, the Karabanov Museum was divided into several parts soon after the inventory was made. A significant part of the applied arts remained in the Armoury Chamber, while the rest was sent to Saint Petersburg. At present the art pieces of the Russian Museum of P.F. Karabanov are kept both in the Armoury Chamber and in the collections of several famous museums and libraries, such as the State Hermitage, the State Russian Museum and the Russian National Library.
The amateur scholars of history in the 18th and 19th centuries were defined as those whose concern for the fate of the country’s historical heritage led them to search for, preserve and study relics of Russian antiquity. A particular interest in national antiquities began to develop in the enlightened circles of Russian society after the Patriotic War of 1812. Many priceless collections and unique rarities were lost in the fires. Lovers of national history turned their attention to search for the new artifacts and their introduction into the scientific sphere. As a result of this passion, private collections were actively forming, and in the 19th century, Russian history and art pieces became a significant part of them.