ZAKHAROV NIKOLAY NIKITICH (1901–1991)
1939-1947 – Director of the State Armoury Chamber
1947-1956 – Head of the Department for the Preservation of Historical Values and Monuments of the Moscow Kremlin, within the Commandant's Office of the Moscow Kremlin

Honoured Worker of Culture of the RSFSR, author of several articles and popular science publications on the Moscow Kremlin and its artefacts. He served as the Director of the State Armoury Chamber (1939-1947) and Head of the Department for the Preservation of Historical Values and Artefacts of the Administration of the Moscow Kremlin Commandant (1947-1956) (the Armoury Chamber and the museums-cathedrals were referred to by this name from 1946 to 1960).

A graduate of the Bauman Moscow Mechanical Engineering Institute (now Bauman Moscow State Technical University), from 1936 to 1938, he worked in party activities as an assistant to the head of the sector in the Department of Leading Party Bodies of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. He was appointed director of the Kremlin museum during a challenging period. According to the Resolution of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated 16 April 1938, the Armoury Chamber and the architectural monuments of the Kremlin were transferred from the oversight of the Committee for the Management of Scientific and Educational Institutions of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR to the Administration of the Commandant of the Moscow Kremlin.

The Commission established for the acceptance and transfer of valuables identified significant shortcomings in the work, and the previous director, K.G. Maslov, was arrested. An engineer by education, Nikolay Nikitich was far from museum life, but due to his exceptional diligence, immense desire to master a new profession, and deep integrity, he managed to normalise the situation within the team and direct the staff towards correcting the errors identified by the Commission. Under his leadership during the Great Patriotic War, the evacuation and re-evacuation of historical treasures were carried out, and subsequently, the exhibition of the Armoury Chamber was recreated in the shortest possible time upon their return to Moscow.

In the post-war years, new tasks were set before the museum staff. From 1946, significant restoration work was carried out in the Kremlin, and in the early 1950s, a new exhibition of the Armoury Chamber was created. In 1954, a comprehensive work on the history of the museum and its collections was published. With the opening of the Kremlin for public visits in 1955, popularisation efforts came to the forefront.

In 1956, N.N. Zakharov was transferred to the position of Deputy, and in 1960, he was appointed Chief Curator. From 1971 until his retirement in 1985, he worked as a Senior Researcher in the "Armoury Chamber" department.

N.N. Zakharov was awarded the Orders of the Red Banner and the "Badge of Honour," as well as the medals "For Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War" and "For Military Merit." In 1971, he was awarded the title "Honoured Worker of Culture of the RSFSR."