House of Golitsyn

The House of Golitsyn (Russian: Голи́цыны, romanized: Golítsyny, IPA: [ɡɐˈlʲitsɨnɨ]) is the second largest and noblest Princely house in Russia. Among its members were warlords, landlords, knyazes (princes), knights, diplomats, Prime Ministers, admirals, stewards, State Counsellors and statesmen.

The Golitsyns claim their seniority in the Lithuanian dynasty of Gediminas (the Gediminids) which has existed since the 13th century. Descendants of this family in Europe and the west write their name in the form Galitzine. The family is among the first Russian aristocratic dynasties and its members bear the honorific predicate His Serene Highness.

The family produced many well-known statesmen and figures of the Russian Empire, among them notably Vasily, Boris, Dmitry and Nikolai Golitsyn, the last chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Russian Empire.

Numerous pieces of art or geographic locations were named after the family, such as the Galitzin Triptych created by Pietro Perugino in 1485 or the Galitzine Quartet No. 12 commissioned by Nikolai Galitzin and delivered by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1825, the Golitsyn craters A and B on the far side of the Moon, the Gallitzinberg, in Vienna, the Gallitzin borough in Pennsylvania, the Gallitzin Tunnel and Gallitzin State Forest, the Golitsyn Hospital in Moscow and various places, localities and municipalities in Russia.