Stroganovs

The Stroganovs or Strogonovs (Russian: Строгановы, Строгоновы), also spelled in French manner as Stroganoffs, were a family of highly successful Russian merchants, industrialists, landowners, and statesmen. Since the reign of Ivan the Terrible, they were the richest businessmen in the Tsardom of Russia. They financed the Russian conquest of Siberia and Prince Pozharsky's reconquest of Moscow from the Poles. The Stroganov School of icon-painting is named after them. Peter the Great elevated the Stroganovs into the noble rank of Baron of the Russian Empire. The last member of the family died in the Stroganov Palace in 1923.