Museum 'Steppe Duma' named after V. B. Mokhosoev

About museum

The museum is located in the former administrative building of the Alar Steppe Duma. The taishi (elders) of the Mathkhanov and Batorov clans met here, including the well-known educator and ethnographer, a member of the East Siberian branch of the Russian Geographical Society, and one of the organizers of the Buryat Department of the Irkutsk Local History Museum, Petr Pavlovich Batorov (1850–1927). After the establishment of Soviet power in 1920, the revolutionary committee was housed in this building; from 1925 to 1975 it served as a medical clinic.

At the origins of the museum stood Viktor Bazheevich Mokhosoev (1928–1996), a talented local historian, activist, and history teacher at the Alar secondary school. Over time the collection was supplemented thanks to village residents, pupils, and school teachers. Initially a corner of military glory was created in the school's dormitory, on the basis of which the school history museum opened.

In 2018 the 'Steppe Duma' museum was given the name of the history teacher, museum founder, and Honored Education Worker V. B. Mokhosoev.

The museum has enormous educational and pedagogical potential, as it preserves and exhibits authentic historical items. The main directions of its work are the effective use of this potential to educate students in the spirit of patriotism, civic consciousness, and high moral standards; the formation of a sense of responsibility for preserving natural riches, the region's artistic culture, and pride in one's homeland, school, and family — that is, a sense of belonging to the past and present of one's small homeland.