Balakovo History Museum

About museum

The museum occupies the former mansion of the banker and grain industrialist V. Golovanov, built in the early 20th century. The brick museum building, with a total area of over 450 sq. m, featuring a mezzanine and an attic in the neo-Gothic style, is a local architectural monument. The museum's collections number about 6,500 storage units. These include collections of painting and graphics, numismatics, items of archaeology and ethnography, and applied arts. Weapons are represented by a bayonet for a Mosin rifle, a blade with scabbard, an artillery cleaver from 1872, and others. The 'History of Technology' collection highlights the development of tractor and diesel engineering. The museum materials reflect the history of the city from the feudal village founded by Old Believers in the 18th century and the 'wheat capital of the Volga' of the 19th century to the modern city with strong industry, the Saratov Hydroelectric Power Station and the Balakovo Nuclear Power Plant, cultural centers, technical colleges and universities. The museum exhibitions present pages of Balakovo's history and features of everyday life in the pre-revolutionary city.