Historical and Architectural Museum-Reserve

About museum

On December 12, 1837, by the decision of Governor Ivan Semenovich Timiryazev, a Provincial Museum was opened in Astrakhan. However, in 1862 it was closed due to a lack of funds for its maintenance, and its exhibits were transferred to other institutions for storage. Thanks to the active work of the Petrovsky Society of Researchers of the Astrakhan Region, the Astrakhan Museum was officially opened on March 5, 1897. In 1911, its exhibits were moved to the new building of the "City Institutions", where they are preserved to this day. The museum presents various exhibitions: "The Living Past of the Land", "Fishes of the Volga–Caspian Basin", "The Astrakhan Region in the 19th–20th Centuries", "History and Culture of the Peoples of the Astrakhan Region", "Nature of the Astrakhan Region", "The Astrakhan Region in Antiquity", "Armory Room" and "The Gold of the Nomads." Today the museum's collection comprises more than 300,000 storage units.