The Russian Revival style comprises a number of different movements within Russian architecture that arose in the second quarter of the 19th century and was an eclectic melding of Byzantine elements (Neo-Byzantine architecture in the Russian Empire) and pre-Petrine (Old Russian) architecture.

Russian Revival architecture arose within a framework of renewed interest in national architectures which occurred in Europe during the 19th century, and it is an interpretation and stylization of the Russian architectural heritage. Sometimes, Russian Revival architecture is often erroneously called Russian or Old-Russian architecture, but the majority of Revival architects did not directly reproduce the old architectural tradition. Being instead a skilful stylization, the Russian Revival style was consecutively combined with other international styles, from the architectural romanticism of first half of the 19th century to the style moderne.

Like the Romantic revivals of Western Europe, the Russian Revival was informed by a scholarly interest in the historic monuments of the nation. The historicism resonated with the popular nationalism and pan-Slavism of the period. The first illustrated account of Russian architecture was the project of Anatoly Nikolaievich Demidov, 1st Prince of San Donato and French draughtsman André Durand, the record of their 1839 tour of Russia was published in Paris in the 1840s as Voyage Pittoresque et Archéologique en Russie. Durand's lithographs betray a foreigner's sensitivity to the seeming otherness of Russian architecture, displaying some curiously distorted features, and while they are, on the whole, fairly accurate representations, the folios that he produced belong to the genre of travel literature rather than historical inquiry.

The attempt to discern the chronology and development of Russia's building begins in earnest with Ivan Snegirev and A.A. Martynov's The old Russia in its ecclesiastical and civil architectural monuments («Русская старина в памятниках церковного и гражданского зодчества») (Moscow, 1851). The state took an interest in the endeavour by sponsoring a series of folios published as The antiquities of the realm of Russia («Древности российского государства») (Moscow 1849–1853, 6 vol.) depicting antiquities and decorative works of art. By this time the Moscow Archaeological Society [fr; ru; uk] undertook research on the subject, formalising it as a field of study. A series of triennial conferences was instituted from 1869 to 1915, and its reports included studies of the architecture of the Kievian Rus' and early Moscow periods. Perhaps the Society's most significant achievement was the publication of the Proceedings of the Commission on conservation of the old monuments («Труды Комиссии по сохранению древних памятников») in 6 volumes between 1907 and 1915. Also, the St. Petersburg Academy of fine Arts commissioned research from V.V. Suslov in the form of his two multi-volume works The monuments of the old Russian architecture («Памятники древнего русского зодчества») (1895–1901, 7 vol.) and The monuments of the old Russian art («Памятники древнерусского искусства») (1908–1912, 4 vol.). With the application of positivist historical principals the chronology of Russian architecture was firmly established by the time of the publication of that definitive 6-volume survey of Russian art The Russian art history («История русского искусства») (1909–1917), edited by Igor Grabar; the appearance of the final volume was, however, interrupted by the Russian Revolution.

The first extant example of Byzantine Revival in Russian architecture and the first example ever built stands in Potsdam, Germany, the five-domed Alexander Nevsky Memorial Church by Vasily Stasov (builder of neoclassical Trinity Cathedral, St. Petersburg, father of critic Vladimir Stasov). The following year, Stasov completed the larger five-domed Church of the Tithes in Kiev.

The Russo-Byzantine idea was carried forward by Konstantin Thon with the firm approval by Nicholas I. Thon's style embodied the idea of continuity between Byzantium and Russia, perfectly matching the ideology of Nicholas I. Russian-Byzantine architecture is characterised by mixing the composition methods and vaulted arches of Byzantine architecture with ancient Russian exterior ornaments, and were vividly realised in Thon's 'model projects'. In 1838, Nicholas I "pointed out" Thon's book of model designs to all architects; more enforcement followed in 1841 and 1844. Buildings designed by Thon or based on Thon's designs were Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, the Grand Kremlin Palace and the Armoury in Moscow, also cathedrals in Sveaborg, Yelets, Tomsk, Rostov-on-Don and Krasnoyarsk.

Official enforcement of Byzantine architecture was, in fact, very limited: it applied only to new church construction and, to a lesser extent, to royal palaces. Private and public construction proceeded independently. Thon's own public buildings, like the pseudo-Renaissance Nikolaevsky Terminal, lack any Byzantine features. A closer look at churches constructed in Nicholas' reign reveals many first-rate neoclassical buildings, like the Elokhovo Cathedral in Moscow (1837–1845) by Yevgraph Tyurin. Official Byzantine art was not absolute in Nicholas reign; it is scarce in our days, as the Byzantine churches, declared 'worthless' by Bolsheviks, were the first to be demolished in the Soviet era.

Another direction taken by the Russian Revival style was a reaction against official Thon art, influenced by Romanticism, Slavophilism and detailed studies of vernacular architecture. The forerunner of this trend in church design was Alexey Gornostaev (in his later years, 1848–1862), notable for reinventing Northern Russian tented roof motif augmented with Romanesque and Renaissance vault structure. An early extant example in civil architecture is the wooden Pogodinsky Cottage [ru] in Devichye Pole, Moscow, by Nikolai Nikitin (1856).