Rostov Regional Museum of Local History

For the first time, the question of opening a museum in Rostov-on-Don was raised in 1862 by the mayor A.M. Baikov so that it would become a "reservoir of samples of the national wealth of the region, monuments of its glorious past and witnesses to its modern cultural growth." But the Rostov Regional Museum of Local History has its history since May 1, 1910, when, through the efforts of the founders of the Rostov Society of History, Antiquities and Nature M.B. Krasnyansky, A.M. Ilyin, the “tobacco king” and benefactor V.I. Asmolov in a specially built building in the Duma passage, the museum received the first visitors, before whom, among other things, the personal belongings of the famous writer D.L. Mordovtsev, silver cups of military commander A.V. Suvorov, a triangle and a sword A.M. Baikov.

Having survived the troubles of the revolution and civil war, since 1920 the museum resumed its activities as the Don Regional Soviet Museum of Arts and Antiquities, in connection with which funds were allocated for the purchase of paintings, sculptures, antiques. But special attention was paid to collecting materials about the revolutionary events of 1917 on the Don. In connection with the formation of the North Caucasus Territory in 1926, it was decided to reorganize the Don Museum and create the North Caucasus Museum of Mountain Peoples. 700 exhibits were transferred to the newly created museum.

When the Azov-Black Sea Territory was formed in 1934, the Museum of Mountain Peoples lost its relevance, its collections and, partially, the Don Museum were taken to Stavropol. On the basis of the remaining, it was decided to create a museum in Rostov-on-Don. In 1937, a new task was set: in connection with the formation of the Rostov region in the building on the street. Pushkinskaya, 204 to create the Regional Museum of Local History. Already on November 7, 1937, visitors were able to get acquainted in the nature department with geological and paleontological collections, materials on the development of agriculture; in the history department - with the results of archaeological excavations on the Don; to visit the exhibitions "Rostov-on-Don in the past and present" (with a demonstration of the products of Rostov enterprises), "Religion is the enemy of the people."