Plyos had its ups and downs until a trading boom in the early 1800s inspired a wave of ambitious development, largely in the form of highly ornamented wooden houses and churches. “These fragile wooden details, they need to be restored like they restore temples in Asia, every 25 years of so,” Shevtsov said. “It’s complicated work and expensive one, to keep this magnificent wooden town in all its splendor.”

But Shevtsov accepted the responsibility, buying one building—then another, and another—until he amassed more than three dozen restoration projects within a roughly 1-mile radius. (Plyos, explained Shevtsov, is comparable in size to New York’s Central Park.) When asked how much this has cost him, he laughed. “Many millions I have spent.” More laughter. “Many, many millions. An important percentage of what I have.”

A Million-Dollar Crowd
Plyos has had its fair share of posh visitors, past and present. “Levitan saved Plyos from oblivion when he created several well-known masterpieces,” explained Shevtsov. The artist was alive in the latter half of the 19th century and was at the peak of his fame in the 1880s and ’90s. “And after that, Plyos became fashionable among painters, opera singers, actors, bourgeoisie, and intelligents.”

Plyos’s chicness subsided until Shevtsov’s work started to reclaim the town’s reputation. By 2008 a reporter revealed that Medvedev was developing a compound nearby—and had stopped into a local restaurant for lunch with two governors. Overnight, Plyos’s star reemerged.

“A community has formed here: diplomats with well-known names, businessmen, important people, and interesting, intelligent, successful people,” explained Shevtsov, who protects locals’ identities as a matter of business; these part-time residents are buying his restored homes as private weekend oases.

That’s not to say Plyos is empty during the week: A more permanent crowd of intellectuals and artists has also set in.

Getting There
Travel specialist Greg Tepper said that of the 1,500 American visitors he sends to Russia each year, only 20 or so visit Plyos—the destination is yet to make inroads with his clientele. But it should, he said.

“There’s no other place like this in Russia,” he told Bloomberg. “You get lunches overlooking the Volga, go to local concerts, stay in dachas with talented private chefs and organic farms.” It’s a picture of a small-town Russian idyll that still feels authentic, he explained. “It’s charming beyond all reason. And then there are all these billionaires running around. It’s a very unique experience.”

You can get there by helicopter, as most regulars do; otherwise you have to take a speed train from Moscow and then hop into a car, which takes about four hours in total.

Tepper will book you into one of Shevtsov’s fanciful antique houses—a full-service proposition. “Breakfast is served in your dining room, magically appearing when you wake up,” he said. “Everything is set before arrival, including your preferred foods and schedule.”