In 1860, he helped catalog the collection of Christian antiquities belonging to the archaeologist Pyotr Sevastyanov [ru], to prepare them for donation to the Rumyantsev Museum.
In 1864, the Governor-General of Vilnius, Mikhail Muravyov-Vilensky, invited him to tour the Northwestern Krai to research ancient monuments that were damaged or nearly destroyed by the recent January Uprising.
Five years later, he encouraged the "Moscow Society of Lovers of Spiritual Enlightenment [ru]" to initiate a program that would identify icons in need of restoration.
In 1873, he opened an icon painting school in a house donated by a prominent merchant and gave the works that were produced to poor rural churches.
His later notable restoration projects included ones at Saint Basil's Cathedral and the Ivan the Great Bell Tower.