Originally in Petersburg, the private collection of Count N. P. Rumiantsev, it was opened to the public in 1831 prized for its library. Count Odoesvskii successfully petitioned the Council of Ministers to transfer it to the Pashkov mansion, just opposite Red Square. Divided originally into departments of painting, engraving, numismatics, and archaeology, the Ethnographic Exposition of 1867 was transferred to it as the Dashkov Museum of Ethnography.