Urban Planning and Everyday Life of Taganrog

About museum

The Museum "Urban Planning and Everyday Life of Taganrog" is located in the city center, in the picturesque mansion of E.I. Sharonov. The unusual building was constructed in 1912 in the Art Nouveau style. Its facade is decorated with a polychrome majolica frieze produced at the "Abramtsevo" pottery works after designs by leading masters of the Russian Silver Age: M.A. Vrubel, V.M. Vasnetsov, N.Ya. Davydova. The pylons of the entrance gates are adorned with masks of Libyan lionesses by Mikhail Vrubel. The museum was opened in 1981. In 2019 the renovated permanent exhibition "Portrait of the City in Time" was presented to the public; it includes over 400 unique museum items. By touring the museum's halls one can gain a comprehensive understanding of Taganrog and its unique architectural and urban history, spanning more than three hundred years, beginning with the city's founding as Russia's first naval base. The permanent exhibition features scale models of buildings and structures (the harbor, the fortress, the railway station, the "Round House"), examples of furniture, and items of decorative and applied arts. Large-scale wall panels, artistic installations, and multimedia complexes provide additional visual, educational, and interactive information for visitors of all ages. The museum is part of the Taganrog State Literary and Historical-Architectural Museum-Reserve.