Orenburg Governor's Museum of local history

Orenburg Oblast
Orenburg, Sovetskaya str., 28
Phones: +7 (3532) 77-01-44
Web site: ogikm.ru

The Museum's expositions tell visitors about the formation of the city of Orenburg and the Orenburg province (now the Orenburg region), as well as about the development of the local economy and trade in the period from the XVIII to XX centuries.. In addition, in the Museum you can learn about the military history of this region, about the development of education and science in Orenburg and its region, and about local culture.
The collections "Archaeological treasures of Orenburg Region"are interesting. It covers a large layer of ancient history, from the stone age to the late middle ages, and has more than two thousand artifacts found by scientific expeditions during the excavation of numerous local archaeological sites. The bronze age is represented by pottery made of clay, stone and bone products, tools and weapons made of copper and bronze. All these artifacts were extracted from mounds, sites and settlements explored by archaeologists on the banks of the Ural and Ilek rivers and their tributaries.
The nature Department is located in the basement of the Museum. Here guests can see samples that tell about the local flora and fauna, as well as minerals of the Orenburg region.

The Orenburg Governor's Museum of local history is one of the oldest in Russia.
The history of this institution is very difficult. Back in 1830, by decree of the Orenburg military Governor, the first Museum was founded in these parts, which was located in a military school. Then, under the new Governor, the institution became the property of the region, and part of its collections were moved to the building of the Orenburg Noble Assembly. In 1839, a Museum appeared here, which was called "the Main Museum of local works of nature". The initiator of its creation was the famous linguist, author of the famous "Explanatory dictionary of the living great Russian language" Vladimir Dal.
When the General government was abolished, the Museum's collections were disbanded and distributed among various educational institutions of the city.
Since 1887, the Museum began to be restored anew. Experts began searching for pre-existing collections, as well as collecting new ones. Ten years later, the institution opened as a historical and archaeological Museum in a small building on the banks of the Ural river.
After the revolution, during the civil war, some of the collections were taken to Krasnoyarsk, but later it was returned back to Orenburg. In 1920, the institution became known as the Regional Museum of Kazakhstan – a newly created Republic, the capital of which was declared Orenburg. However, in 1925, the capital of Kazakhstan became the city of Kyzyl-Orda, and most of the exhibits of the former Museum, along with the library, were transferred there.
Since 1934, the institution in Orenburg with the remaining exhibits again changed its name and became known as the Orenburg regional Museum of local lore.
In the second half of the 1930s and during the great Patriotic war, the Museum did not work, and its collections were preserved. It opened only in 1946. Then it had three departments-historical, socialist construction and nature. And in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Museum was closed again, because during this period it was used for restoration and re-exhibition works by masters from St. Petersburg and Moscow.
The Museum opened only in 1994, and since then it has pleased visitors with its interesting collections.

The Museum is located in a unique mansion, which was owned by the merchant Yenikutsev before the revolution. This building is a monument of architecture of the XIX century.
On the third floor of the Museum there are halls where lectures, meetings, presentations are held.
In four exhibition halls, you can see expositions from the Museum's collections, as well as exhibitions held on exchange with leading museums in Russia.
The most significant part of the archaeological exhibition of the Orenburg Museum consists of Scythian-Sarmatian ancient artifacts that were found during the excavations of the world-famous burial mounds of Prokhorovka, Pokrovka, Kardailovo, Lipovka, Pyatimary, etc. An example of a rare and unusual find presented in the Museum is a massive bronze cauldron, which was discovered by archaeologists in the underground passage of the Royal mound of the Filippovsky necropolis.