Y. A. Klimenko Ethnographic Museum

About museum

The founders of the museum are the Klimenko spouses, Y. A. and V. A. For many years they collected exhibit items at their home; then the idea of creating an ethnographic museum arose and was realized in 1991 with the support of the Ministry of Culture of Crimea, the Leninsky District Council, the Novonikolaevka Village Council, and the Kerch Historical and Cultural Reserve. The museum's four halls chronologically display the 25-century (approximately 2,500-year) history of the Kerch Peninsula. These include archaeological finds (ancient tools, pottery) and items reflecting the everyday culture and economic foundations of East Slavic peasantry of the 19th–20th centuries (the village of Novonikolaevka was founded in the mid-19th century by settlers from the Poltava Governorate). Today the village is also inhabited by Russians, Ukrainians, Crimean Tatars, and representatives of other ethnic groups. Such coexistence determined the museum's main exhibition complexes.