Vakhtansky Historical and Natural Museum

About museum

The Vakhtansky Historical and Natural Museum is a branch of the municipal budgetary cultural institution 'People's Folklore and Ethnographic Museum' of the Shakhunya urban district, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast. It was established on July 12, 1979, at the initiative of Honored Worker of the Forestry and Woodworking Industry of the RSFSR, Vitaly Petrovich Peretyagin, in the settlement of Vakhtan. As a result of collecting activities, numerous historical, documentary and photographic materials, as well as other household items of the peoples, were assembled. On October 22, 2002, the museum obtained the status of a municipal institution and currently has 14 exhibition halls, an assembly hall and other necessary infrastructure. The museum comprises 10 collections including more than 2,700 storage items. Of particular interest are handwoven multi-shaft domestic textiles of the late 19th–early 20th centuries, unique manuscripts and photographic materials, as well as documents from the Great Patriotic War and the post-war period.