In this photograph, Feodor Chaliapin is 24 years old. Back then, he was already famous across Russia and Europe as a performer of the Imperial Theaters and a soloist of the Savva Mamontov Moscow Private Opera. The patron of the arts gave Chaliapin complete freedom of choice, provided him with costumes and scenery, and paired him with other talented singers. During that period, Chaliapin performed the leading parts in the operas “Sadko”, “The Maid of Pskov”, “Boris Godunov”, “Mozart and Salieri”, “A Life for the Tsar” and “Khovanshchina”. Meanwhile, he was also working on his role of Mephistopheles in the opera Faust, which enjoyed a resounding success at the La Scala Theater in Milan.

In his hometown, Chaliapin was warmly welcomed by relatives, friends and colleagues. His performances received rounds of applause, and each song was encored. The singer invited the audience to the Panayevka — a restaurant in the Panayevsky garden that mattered to Chaliapin. There, when he was a child, Feodor Chaliapin admired performances in the summer theater. He even got a part of a gendarme, but the boy’s first stage experience resulted in frustration,

When he was on tour in Kazan, Chaliapin was photographed in the prestigious photo studio called “Rembrandt”. It was located on Voskresenskaya Street in the Eckermann House, nowadays it is known as Kremlyovskaya Street. Feodor Chaliapin gave this photograph to his childhood friend Iosif Siletsky. The two grew up together in Sukonnaya Sloboda, a simple worker’s quarter on the outskirts of Kazan. They chased pigeons on the roofs, flew homemade kites, studied at the Sixth City Elementary School, and sang in the choir of the Church of the Descent of the Holy Spirit. This photo was kept in the Siletsky family for 70 years and was eventually donated to the memorial museum.