KGBU "Altai State Museum of Local Lore"

The Altai State Museum of Local History is the legal successor of the Barnaul Mining Museum, which was founded in 1823 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of mining in the Altai. The museum began with historical-technical (model), mineralogical, archaeological collections. The first museum collections were located in the building of the Mining Chancellery on the territory of the Barnaul Silver Smelting Plant (the building has not survived). In 1913, at the request of the Altai subdivision of the Russian Geographical Society, the building of the former main chemical laboratory was transferred to the collection of the museum, where the museum is located to this day.

Currently, the museum collection has more than 150 thousand exhibits, among which the only model of a steam engine in the world, invented in Barnaul by I.I. Polzunov in 1763. This world-class rarity has been exhibited in the museum since 1825. Of particular interest to visitors are archaeological finds telling about the history of ancient Altai; household items reflecting ethnic and social belonging to the population of the region, as well as historical and technical (including military relics), numismatic, mineralogical collections, natural science collections representing biodiversity and natural resources of Altai.