Buynaksk Historical and Local Lore Museum

About museum

The remarkable building that houses the Buynaksk Historical and Local Lore Museum is itself an important exhibit. In 1916 industrialist Khizri Gadzhiev built the first theater in Dagestan as a gift to the city of Tamir-Khan-Shura. The building was equipped with the most modern theatrical equipment of the early 20th century, brought from Austria. The museum presents the history of the Dagestan lands from the 4th millennium BC, when they were first settled. In 1864, during the first excavations in the Tash-Basha area, ancient settlements were discovered and items of art and craft were found. The museum displays a collection of these finds, as well as the authentic interior of a 19th-century town house. At the end of the 19th century the first Muslim chromo-lithographic printing house of Magomed-Mirza Mavraev was opened in Temir-Khan-Shura, where books in Dagestani languages, posters, leaflets and others were produced. The museum exhibits a collection of type sorts used for typesetting. Visitors can also learn about how, in 1920, the All-Dagestan Congress was proclaimed in Temir-Khan-Shura, adopting the Autonomy of the Republic of Dagestan.