Museums of Astrakhan: Exploring Our Rich Cultural Heritage

1. Welcome to themuseums of Astrakhan!Our native town is rich in placesof interest. Our museums are worth visiting. Let’s visit some of them.

2. The Museum of the Local Lore

3. The Astrakhan Museum of the Local Lore is one of the oldest provincial museums of our country. It was founded in 1837. The initiator of the creation of the museum was Timiryazev I. S., who was a governor of Astrakhan that time. The museum consisted of only one hall, that was superbly furnished. Timiryazev I.S.

4. It contained some stuffed animals, birds and fish, a collection of silver coins, a collection of insects and some models of boats used for fishing. In 60th years of the 19th century a part of the exhibits was given to other institutions for keeping them because of the lack of money. The further development of the museum is connected with the activity of the Petrovskyi Society of the investigators of Astrakhan region. The most active of them were Khlebnikov V. A. and Malinovskiy K. N.

5. In 1911 the exposition of the museum was housed in the building where the Museum of the Local Lore is located now. The nature collection is very interesting. Here you can see numerous stuffed animals, birds and fish.

6. One of the most interesting exhibits is a stuffed sturgeon. Its length is 6.5 meters. It weighted 1850 kg.

7. The lotos field gives an idea about this rare flower, grown in our region.

8. The main exhibit hall tells about the history of the old Astrakhan. It contains documents about the Caspian Navy, organized by Peter 1.

9. The museum has about 300.000 exhibits. Some unique things of archeology out of gold and silver are displayed in the museum. The Museum of the Local Lore is worth visiting.

10. This museum is situated in the centre of Astrakhan, in front of the Bratskiy Garden. The exposition of the museum tells about the heroism of our countrymen in wars of 17-20 centuries, about the role of the Astrakhan garrison for keeping the south-eastern frontiers of Russia and the courage of our contemporaries. The Museum of the Battle Glory.

11. The main part of the exposition is devoted to the feats of Astrakhaners at the fronts of the Great Patriotic War and the toilers of the rear.117 citizens of our town became the Heroes of the Soviet Union. Different meetings devoted to some memorial dates of the military history of our country take place every year in the museum. It is a traditional meeting point of the veterans of the Great Patriotic War with young people

12. The Museum of the Town History There is a museum in our town devoted to its history. The base of the exposition composes fund collections of the museum, copies of documents of the archives of Astrakhan region and family archives of native Astrakhaners. There are also labor implements and wares of different craftsmen. This museum consists of many halls. One of the halls is devoted to Astrakhan merchants, who became honorary citizens of our town.

13. The museum contains documental materials and real things of the Ulyanovs’ family. The exhibition hall of the museum is devoted to the history of education in Astrakhan. This museum has some interesting documents about the first schools and gymnasiums of the town in the XIX century.The exhibition about honorable citizens of Astrakhan is of great interest. Here you can see pictures of famous people of our town.

14. The Museum of the History of Medicine. There are some museums in Astrakhan and one of them is the Museum of the History of Medicine. How were people treated many years ago? How did they fight against epidemics in our region? Where were doctors taught? How did the system of medical service develop in Astrakhan? You can find answers for these questions in this museum. There is a unique collection of archeological things for taking care of sick people. They apply to the third century B. C. The exposition of the museum tells about doctors, who died during the fight against dangerous infections.

15. Another exposition tells about doctors, who were inhabitants of our town. It also reflects the development of medicine service in our region. Astrakhan became the third city after Moscow and St. Petersburg, where the state chemist’s shop was opened on the edict of Peter I in 1721. The first chemist’s shops in Russia were centers for storage of medicine raw materials for all Russia up to the end of the XVIII century. The museum contains documents about the work of the first chemist’s shops in Astrakhan. There is also a special hall where exhibitions devoted to the important events in the sphere of medicine are displayed.

16. The Museum of Culture This museum is located in a cozy 2-storey building. The exposition of the museum is devoted to the town culture of the XVIII – XX centuries and connects different themes. One of them is the history of the Astrakhan theatre that was opened in 1810. Many outstanding Russian actors played on its stage. Among them were Ermolova M., Komissarzhevskay B., Orlenev P. and others.

17. The music hall of the museum invites the guests of the town to meet the atmosphere of the concert life of the past. The famous Russian singer F. Shalyapin visited our town at the beginning of the XX century. The museum has a program of his concert.

18. A hall devoted to Maksakova M. hold pride of place in the museum, because she was born in Astrakhan and spent her childhood and youth here. The museum has documents, photos and personal things that the great singer and her family presented to the museum.

19. There is also a room, where Chernyshevskiy’s study is shown. He lived in our town in 1883-1889, when he was on exile. There are also exhibits about the cultural life of Astrakhan in XX century, modern life and film actors, who were born in our town. Music and poetic parties take place in the museum every month.

20. Our museums are open for the visitors. You can see all the exhibits presented in our project.This project was done by Korovina K., Kisamedenova A., Kildaliev R., Kulagina S., Brunilin D.