Historical and Architectural Museum-Reserve

About museum

On December 12, 1837, by decision of Governor Ivan Semenovich Timiryazev, the Gubernatorial Museum was opened in Astrakhan. However, in 1862 it was closed due to 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 remain to this day. The museum features various exhibitions: "The Living Past of the Earth", "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", "The Armory Room" and "The Gold of the Nomads". Today the museum's collection comprises more than 300,000 storage units.