[2] During the first years of the 19th century, Rumyantsev was very influential with Alexander I and his mother Maria Fyodorovna, serving as Minister of Commerce (1802–1811) and President of the State Council (1810–1812).

When Napoleon entered Moscow, he advised the Emperor to dismiss Kutuzov and to seek peace at any cost.

During the years of his foreign service, Nikolay Petrovich amassed a huge collection of historical documents, rare coins, maps, manuscripts, and incunabula which formed a nucleus of the Rumyantsev Museum in Moscow (subsequently transformed into the State Russian Library).

He presided over a circle of young antiquaries (such as Pavel Stroev and Ivan Snegirev) that later drifted into the Slavophile camp.

[3] As a result, his name came to be attached to such exotic things as: In 1811 he commissioned sculptor Canova to create a statue of peace in recognition of the peacemaking efforts of his family.