Razdor ethnographic museum-reserve

The official date of formation of the state budget institution of culture of the Rostov region "Razdorsky Ethnographic Museum-Reserve" - February 25, 1988, when the relevant resolution of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR.

Why was an ethnographic museum-reserve created in rural areas, the village of Razdorskaya? Neither the age of the village (more than 250 years), nor the known fact of the existence in the XVI-XVII centuries in the vicinity of the village of an ancient Cossack town was in itself something exceptional. The main thing was that there was already a solid amount of scientific research for this territory: important archaeological discoveries, interesting paleontological finds were made, research was carried out in the field of art history, military history, ethnography. Moreover, the topic of further research in various fields of knowledge was determined.

All this became possible thanks to the teacher of the contentious high school Leonid Timofeevich Agarkov. One person surprisingly combined the talents of a researcher, organizer, teacher: he clearly saw the problem, ways to solve it and knew how not just to interest, but to ignite his students with it. It was during school search expeditions that the Neolithic settlement “Rakushechny Yar” was discovered, as a result of which the term “Rakushechno-Yarsk culture” appeared in archaeological science; new pages were opened in the study of the work of V.I. Surikov.

Returning to the history of the museum, it should be said that the accumulated scientific information served as proof of the importance of the territory, which gave rise to the idea of organizing a museum-reserve. The initiative group, consisting mainly of indigenous dissenters, appealed for support to the writer, deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR A.V. Kalinin. The authority of A.V. Kalinin, the scientific substantiation written by L.T. Agarkov, multiplied by the energy of the public, did their job: a state museum-reserve was created.

The uniqueness and deep symbolic significance of the territory of the museum-reserve are given by the historical circumstances associated with the birth of the Don Cossacks. The Don Cossack army was stationed on the territory of the Don region (modern Rostov, parts of the Volgograd, Voronezh regions and Kalmykia of the Russian Federation, Luhansk region of Ukraine).

The natural conditions that have developed on the territory of the present village of Razdorska and its environs, characterized by a wide Don floodplain with terraces and adjacent estuary areas of such large tributaries of the Don as the Seversky Donets and Sal have been since ancient times places of permanent human habitation. The combination of favorable natural and geographical conditions - the crossroads of waterways - was especially valuable in the steppe zone, as it provided an abundance of fuel in coastal floodplain forests, significant fish stocks, a watering hole for livestock and a concentration of floodplain wildlife. All this contributed to the human habitation on the territory, now part of the museum-reserve since ancient times. This is proved by numerous material evidence left by people (fragments of ceramics, ancient tools, remains of ancient settlements and burials), which are not uncommon in the village of Razdorskaya and its environs.

The territory of the museum-reserve is 3650 hectares and includes places of unique archaeological finds. Here are archaeological monuments of the Neolithic, Bronze Age, Early Iron Age and Middle Ages.