Ichalkovsky Local History Museum

About museum

The museum opened in 1983. Its collections number over 4,500 storage units: household items, numismatic collections, rare books, photographs and documentary materials. The exhibition comprises a Hall of Military Glory and an ethnographic hall, as well as an exhibition hall in the foyer of the MBU "Center of Culture".
The museum's ethnographic hall is dedicated to the history of the villages of the Ichalkovsky district and to the everyday life of the Mordvin-Erzyan people. The museum holds collections of ceramics, clothing, footwear, wooden furniture, kitchen utensils, as well as exhibits related to various crafts: blacksmithing, coopering, pottery, weaving from bast and wicker, knitting and embroidery. The museum displays examples of the everyday life of the Mordvin-Erzyan and Russian populations, and collections of archaeology and numismatics. Through the presented panels one can trace the history of the villages of Kemli and Ichalok in the pre-revolutionary period.
The Hall of Military Glory is devoted to the military period in the history of the Ichalkovsky district: the history of the earliest participants in the Great Patriotic War, the history of evacuation hospital No. 1630, the orphanage in the settlement Lespromkhoz, women — tractor drivers and participants in the war, Heroes of the Soviet Union native to the Ichalkovsky district, and participants of the Great Patriotic War. Authentic photographs, certificates, wartime documents, wartime letters and awards are on display. The exhibition is complemented by a corner dedicated to the front-line poet Ivan Yegorovich Shumilkin.
The exhibition hall in the foyer of the MBU "Center of Culture" is used for temporary exhibitions by the Ichalkovsky Children's School of Arts, the Ichalkovsky Local History Museum, other organizations and institutions, and Mordvin artists. The displays change several times throughout the year. The longest-running exhibition (from May to September) — the exhibition of the art department of the Ichalkovsky School of Arts — usually includes more than 200 exhibits.