Old Cherkassian Historical and Architectural Museum-Reserve

Starocherkasssk Historical and Architectural Museum-Reserve was founded on December 30, 1970 on the basis of Starocherkasskaya, the only large complex of monuments of residential, civil and religious architecture of the lower Don of the XVII-XIX centuries preserved in the village. The initiator of the museum was the famous Don writer and Nobel laureate M.A. Sholokhov.

The funds include 68,000 units of storage, including 57,000 – the main fund. These are 26 collections, which include many rarities. Most of the subjects, about 1/3, belong to the category of everyday life and ethnography and reflect the working life of the Don Cossacks, the decoration of dwellings and utensils.

The collection of funds of the museum-reserve began with 300 exhibits. Many unique objects were donated to the museum by residents of the village of Starocherkasskaya immediately after the museum was founded, as well as, within the framework of the exchange fund, from major museums in Russia: the Hermitage and the State Historical Museum.

Every year, the museum organizes more than 20 exhibitions from its own funds and museums of Russia. Historical expositions are constantly operating: “History of the Don Cossacks of the XVI – early XX century”, “To the glory of the Fatherland!”, “Cherkassk and the Bulavinsky Uprising” and an open-air exhibition “Danilov Bastion”. Also, the museum-reserve organizes tourist routes: “Monuments of the village of Starocherkasskaya”, “Peter I and the city of Cherkassk”, “Cathedral complex on the Maidan”. The museum is visited by more than 110,000 people per year.

Starocherkasssk Museum-Reserve offers a wide range of thematic, cultural and interactive events designed for different age categories of visitors.