The name of Baron Munchausen has been a symbol of cheerful lies for two centuries and is known all over the world. But behind the image of a mustachioed officer flying on a core through centuries and countries, a real person with a difficult fate is hidden. This biography of Jerome Karl Friedrich von Munchausen is based on genuine documents from German and Russian archives (many of them are cited and published for the first time), as well as the author's personal impressions.