In 1917, after the Bolshevik revolution, an anarchist named Doroshenko settled with his family in the museum, and was reported to have fired shots at the portrait of Pope Innocent hanging in one of the bedrooms. He was finally arrested in April, 1918. In 1918 the museum was given the status of protected site by the People's Commissariat for Education, and in 1921 it was declared to be property of the state.