The typeface was designed at the Polygraphmash type design bureau in 1951-53 by Lev Malanov, Elena Tsaregorodtseva et al.

Based on Cyrillic version of Excelsior, 1931, of Mergenthaler Linotype, by Chauncey H. Griffith. Excelcior Cyrillic was developed in 1936 in Moscow by Professor Michael Shchelkunov, Nikolay Kudryashev et al. A low-contrast text face of the Ionic – “Legibility” group.