Ivan P. Sautov (1947–2008), who headed our museum for more than two decades, would have turned 79 today.

His favourite saying 'Think positive!' is still remembered by his colleagues. A man of immense charm, Ivan Sautov was director of Tsarskoe Selo from 1987 to 2008. He immediately grasped the architectural monument's potential and relevance in the newly changing cultural and political landscape of that period.

Deeply familiar with the museum’s finest traditions, Ivan Sautov worked together with architect Alexander Kedrinsky, the mastermind behind the Tsarskoe Selo restoration project, to restore the former imperial residence back to its splendour. Largely thanks to his immense energy, the reconstruction of the Amber Room was finished after decades of work in 2003.

The other remarkable restoration projects accomplished under Ivan Sautov include much of the Suite of State Rooms in the Catherine Palace, and a Romanov exhibition in the former rooms of Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Fёdorovna in the Alexander Palace, then not yet under the museum's control. 

Since the spring of 2024, Pushkin town (Tsarsko Sleo) has a street named after Ivan Sautov. It is located not far from the Catherine Park and connects Gospitalny Lane with Gvardeysky Boulevard.