Elena Roerich was born into a noble family rich in cultural traditions in St. Petersburg on February 12, 1879.
Her maternal great-grandfather was the great Russian commander Mikhail Kutuzov. Among her relatives there were also the renowned composer Modest Mussorgsky and the poet A. Golenishchev-Kutuzov.
 Already in her childhood, while trained by teachers from the Petersburg Conservatory, Elena manifested outstanding gift for music. Further on, she gave solo piano concerts.
   In 1901 Elena got married to Nicholas Roerich. From then on they were unseparable in everyday life as well as on their spiritual and creative path. She became his colleague in all public and cultural affairs and a muse of his many paintings and undertakings.
   Along with her husband and sons Elena participated in the heroic Transhimalaya Expedition.
   After the expedition the Roerich family settled down in the Himalayas, in the valley of Kulu, where the Himalaya Research Institute "Urusvati" was founded by its honourable president Elena Roerich.
 The years of living in India were the time of the most important and fruitful work by Elena Roerich. This is where she completed the main part of her 14-volume fundamental treatise Agni Yoga (aka Living Ethics). However, the author did not put her name on these books since she believed that the Innermost Wisdom stated in them cannot be considered her own property. She considered herself the author of three books that were published under different pennames: The Fundamentals of Buddhism (1927), Cryptograms of the East (1929), and Banner of the Reverend Sergey of Radonezh (1934).
   Besides, she kept active correspondence with lots of figures of culture in Europe, Asia and America Her numerous letters were later published in Riga, Novosibirsk, Minsk and Moscow.
   Elena Roerich was also enganged in translating. She translated into Russian excerpt from the book Letters of Mahatmas to Sinnet (The Bowl of the East), and two volumes of The Secret Doctrine by Helena Blavatskaya.
   After the death of Nicholas Roerich she moved to Kalimpong (East Himalayas, India) where she continued her work alone. This is where Elena Roerich passed away on October 5, 1955.