TSUKANOV MIKHAIL PETROVICH (1922-1987)
1977-1987 – Director of the State Museums of the Moscow Kremlin

A front-line soldier, he was Kazakhstan's First Deputy Minister of Culture and then headed the Theatre Department of the USSR Ministry of Culture and the State Circus before being appointed to the Moscow Kremlin.

An experienced manager and administrator, he successfully oversaw the renovation and comprehensive re-exposition of the Armoury Chamber and the Museum of Applied Arts and Daily Life of the 17th Century, taking into account the achievements of museum theory and practice since the 1980s. Under his leadership, the structure of the institution was improved, storage facilities were modernised and twenty unique 16th-18th-century objects were restored, including the famous Tsar Cannon. From 1977 to 1987 a large-scale architectural restoration of the Kremlin walls and towers, the Assumption and the Archangel Cathedrals, and the Church of the Deposition of the Virgin's Robe was carried out, including the strengthening of foundations and vaults and the restoration of frescoes. Scientific work was actively developed, and in 1986 the museum was granted the status of a research institution. For several years M. P. Tsukanov was the Vice-President of the ICOM Committee on the Safety of Museums.

Having completed the main tasks assigned to him, M. P. Tsukanov, for health reasons, moved to the position of Senior Research Associate in the Scientific Publishing Department of the Museum.

He was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 2nd Class, the Order of the Red Star, the Order of Honour and the Order of Friendship of Peoples.