Averkii Stepanovich Kirillov

Born 1622; died May 16, 1682. Russian statesman and major merchant and entrepreneur.

Kirillov was the owner of many shops in Moscow and other cities, saltworks at Solikamsk, and tracts of land and villages with peasants. In 1677 he was called to government service and was granted the rank of dumnyi d’iak (Duma clerk). Between 1677 and 1682 he directed the Prikaz Bol’shoi Kazny (the central treasury) and the Prikaz Bol’shogo Prikhoda (the central financial body). His basic responsibility was Russian finance, trade, and industry. During the Moscow uprising of 1682, he was killed by the rebelling strel’tsy (semiprofessional musketeers), who had accused him of accepting bribes and of various other abuses. His home on the Bersenev Embankment in Moscow still exists, an outstanding example of secular architecture of the 17th century.