At the beginning of the 19th century Prince Nikolai Yusopov, an influential magnate and patron of the arts, bought the Arkhangelskoe Estate, with an unfinished palace and a modest French garden. Very soon after, this estate became the Arkhangelskoe House-Museum and Yusopov brought all of his quirks and fantasies to life there. There he put the largest collection of Western paintings, a gigantic library, had a large botanical garden put in, organised the production of porcelain and glass and built a theatre. The Arkhangelskoe Estate became the centre of Moscow social life and to be one of Prince Yusopov’s guests was to be one of the “chosen ones.”