The Pogankin Chambers are the best example of medieval Pskovian civil architecture that survives intact. Built in the 1670s for a wealthy merchant family, the complex consists of three interconnected stone buildings around a courtyard — heavily buttressed, with small windows set deep in thick walls, designed for both habitation and storage of goods. It is now part of the Pskov State Museum and houses the main icon collection.
The building itself repays attention: the massive walls, the low-vaulted rooms, and the external staircase towers give a vivid sense of how wealthy Pskovians lived in the late medieval period. Inside, the collection of Pskovian icons is one of the best in Russia, with works spanning the 13th to 17th centuries. The distinctive Pskovian style — sharp, expressionistic, often using unusual orange and dark-green tones — is well represented.