Pavlograd District Local History Museum named after N. A. Svirkin

About museum

The museum opened on July 7, 2000, on the eve of the 100th anniversary of the urban-type settlement of Pavlogradka. It was founded on the collection of the school museum of the village of Tikhvinka, transferred to Pavlogradka by the museum's organizer — N. A. Svirkin — a teacher, historian, school principal, and local historian who devoted over 40 years to collecting and wrote three books on the district's history. The museum is located on the first floor of the building of the former 'Univermag' department store.

The permanent exhibition '100 Years of Regional History' is presented in three halls.

Hall I: 'Pre-revolutionary Period (1900–1914)'. The life and everyday life of Kazakhs and settlers, the main stages of the district's settlement, crafts. The interior of a settler's hut and a Kazakh yurt give the exhibition brightness and authenticity, and the display of icons brought by settlers, the red corner (icon corner), descriptions of the history of churches in the district and sacred places in the oblast provide completeness.

Hall II: 'History of the district's development in the Soviet period (1914–1990s)'. This hall traces the historical moments in the district's life step by step: the revolution, the Civil War, collectivization, the Great Patriotic War, the post-war period, and the socio-public situation of the 1980s–1990s.

Hall III: 'The district's flora and fauna'. Maps, herbariums, grasses, cross-sections of tree species, seed samples, archaeological (arrowheads) and paleontological (mammoth bones) finds, and taxidermied animals and birds provide a complete picture of our district's nature and climate.

Hall IV — exhibition hall. About 25 temporary exhibitions are held there annually, both from the museum's collections and from outside. Over the years the museum has formed a series of exhibitions: 'The World Through Children's Eyes', 'I'll Decorate My Home Myself', 'Leafing Through the Pages of History', 'Folk Talents', 'The Creativity of Our Neighbors'.

The main exhibition includes four permanent displays: 'Kazakhs — Children of the Steppes', 'Settlers — Seekers of a Better Life', 'The Earthly Life of the Most Holy Mother of God and Her Miraculous Icons', 'Life and Customs of the Germans of Pavlograd District'.

Over the course of its operation the exhibition has undergone significant improvements. The museum's holdings numbered 700 items at the time of opening and about 10,000 items by the end of 2010.