Pavel Tret’iakov’s Portrait Gallery of Important Persons of His Time as Mirror of the Changing Conception of Oneself in Russian Society during the 19th Century The article deals with the construction of new models, personalized and oriented towards national beliefs in the time after the defeat in the Crimean war and the reforms of 1861. In order to emphasize the key role of portraits in this national self-finding process and the significance of the temporary portrait gallery organized by Pavel Tret’iakov it highlights the continuous high standing of portrait in Russian art of modern times. Its authority is based upon the tradition of icons and their ado ration but has integrated also western influences and media innovations. Further it is discussed what was the motivation for collecting art of Pavel Tret’iakov, a representative of the Russian merchants, a stratum who began to compete with the aristocracy in this field and to establish his own priorities. Pavel Tret’iakov focused on Russian realist painting, on artists like Vasilii Perov, Ivan Kramskoi, Il’ia Repin, and others. It was his intention as an old-believer to present works of art in a museum and thus to secure their influence on public mind. The analysis of the genesis and the structure of the portrait gallery shows its close relation to the search for a new, moral credible elite in Russia. Following up the ideas of Thomas Carlyle men of letters and other representatives of cultural life have been declared to be the “best people” in Russia, but also peasants freed from serfdom. Despite of his slavophile sympathies, Pavel Tret’iakov appears as a customer who is choosing the models for his portrait gallery in order to reach a balance between differing social and ideological interests. He cultivated a steady exchange with the artists working for him. The iconography of the portraits, among them those of Fedor Dostoevskii, Lev Tolstoi and Modest Mussorgskii, also confirms the mix of traditional elements and modernist tendencies, so characteristic for Russia in the late 19th century.