Novocherkassk Museum of the History of the Don Cossacks

About museum

The Museum of Don Cossack History is the first museum on the Don and in the South of Russia; it was opened on November 22, 1899. Organizational and collecting work by local history enthusiasts preceded the museum's opening. The museum's head became Collegiate Counselor Khariton I. Popov, a Don historian and archaeologist, who remained in this position until the end of 1920. In 1941 the Don Museum was reorganized into the Museum of Don Cossack History. The museum's holdings received collections of paintings by N. N. Dubovsky and works by the well-known Don landscape painter I. I. Krylov. Memorial house-museums were also established for the artists M. B. Grekov, I. I. Krylov and the poet V. G. Kalmykov. In 2002 the museum was presented with the symbolic key to the Ataman Palace, and in 2005 a new museum, 'Ataman Palace', was opened. During World War II the museum staff managed to preserve the most valuable items and collections, and in 1946 some 2,726 items were returned from the Prague National Museum to the Museum of Don Cossack History.