Stroganov family

The Stroganovs or Strogonovs (Russian:Стро́гановы, Стро́гоновы), referred to in French as Stroganoffs, were a family of highly successful Russian merchants, industrialists, landowners, and statesmen. From the reign of Ivan the Terrible in the 16th century 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 takes its name from them. Peter the Great elevated the Stroganovs into the nobility as Barons of the Russian Empire. The last member of the family died in the Stroganov Palace in 1923.