Queen of the muses and beauty, you gently hold in your hands the magical scepter of inspiration. Above your thoughtful brow, crowned with a double wreath, the genius weaves and burns.

Princess Zinaida Alexandrovna Volkonskaya, born Princess Beloselskaya, was born on December 3, 1789, in Dresden and died on January 24, 1862, in Rome. She was the hostess of a literary salon, a writer, poetess, singer, and composer, leaving a significant mark on Russian cultural life in the first half of the 19th century.

Tired of high society, Volkonskaya, having withdrawn from society and the court, after a short trip to Italy in 1822, dedicated herself to raising her son and studying the Russian language, history, ethnography, and archaeology of Russia. Her scientific works did not find support in the upper echelons of society, so at the end of 1824, she moved to Moscow, to her stepmother's house on Tverskaya Street. This house soon became the center of intellectual and artistic life in Moscow, known as the 'Griboedov House.' Although the Volkonskaya house has been rebuilt, it is still known as the 'Yeliseyevsky Store.' Her beauty, intellect, education, wonderful contralto voice, and special gift for attracting people gathered not only the Moscow nobility but also professors, artists, and musicians at her musical-literary evenings and theatrical performances.

In 1825, Volkonskaya became a member of the Moscow Society of History and Antiquities and donated her library to the Moscow Society of Naturalists.

Her salon was frequented by many famous writers, such as Pushkin, Baratynsky, Mickiewicz, Venevitinov, and Devitte. P. A. Vyazemsky described her salon in a letter to A. I. Turgenev as a 'magical castle of the musical fairy,' where 'thoughts, feelings, conversation, movements, everything was singing.' The best poets dedicated their works to her. She also wrote in Russian, French, and Italian. Pushkin called her the 'queen of the muses and beauty,' and she was also referred to as the 'Northern Corinna.'