The branch of the Museum "Chambers of the Old English Court" (the architectural monument of the XV-XVII centuries) was opened in 1994.
The exposition is devoted to the history of Russian - British relations in particular the history of the English "Moscow Company" and "English Ambassador’s Court".
The Muscovy Company was set up as a result of the chain of events which occured after Richard Chancellor landed in Murmansk in 1553. They were given the English Court in 1556 as a sort of English Embassy (the building was simply requisitioned from its previous owners). As an embassy, it can claim to be the first foreign embassy in Moscow. The third envoy was held under house arrest for a time as a result of Ivan the Terrible's request to marry Queen Elizabeth seemingly falling on deaf ears (or it may have been some other English lady, Mary Hastings).
The Company was thrown out of Russia in 1649 by Tsar Alexei after the Parliament took over power in England and executed Charles 1.
It was discoverd again during demolitions to clear the area for the Rossiya hotel. In the basement of an apartment block, a medieval house was discovered, which was eventually decided to be the English Court. It seems have been itself saved from demolition by Baranovski.
It was originally next door to the Romanoff Palace (although not nowadays), and it appears there were strong relations between the English and the Romanoffs prior to the family forming the new dynasty of Tsars, after which the Romanoff Palace became part of the Znamensky Monastery.
This 16th-century boardinghouse for English merchants has been turned into a museum that hosts chamber music concerts one or two evenings a week.
