Tyumen regional local lore museum

One of the oldest museums of Siberia began its work in 1879. Two private collections of Siberian antiquities make the basis of its exposition. In due course the Museum became one of the major cultural centres carrying out vast research and educational activity.

At present, the basic exposition of the Museum is disposed in the building of the city hall (Duma). It also has a few branches.

“MUNICIPAL DUMA”

The building of the Duma was constructed in 1830s. Decorated with a tower striking clock made in 1857, it became one of the most original and bright architectural monuments forming the appearance of the historical centre of Tyumen. The first floor of the building is now allocated to the showrooms of the Regional Local Lore Museum. The second floor is occupied by the permanent exposition “Museum and Nature”, displaying flora and fauna of the area as well as paleontologic exhibits. The most spectacular of them are the skeletons of a fossil mammoth, bison and wooly rhinoceros found in the vicinities of Tyumen at the end of the XIX^th century. The rich zoological, entomological and paleobotanical collections are also of great interest.

The museum of geology, oil and gas

The Museum acquaints its visitors with a new epoch in the history of the Region. The periods since 1930s has been marked by swift development of the natural riches of the north. The halls of the Museum give quite a full representation of all ecological, social and cultural problems which have been caused by this unprecedented industrial leap.

The exhibition “Mineral Riches of Western Siberia” displays a collection of rare minerals which have been found on the territory. The pearl of this exposition is a map of the Tyumen area made of valuable and semi-precious stones.

The museum of house of the XVIII-XIX centuries

The Museum occupies the house which witnessed many important events of the city’s history. This wooden private residence, constructed in 1804, originally belonged to the Ikonnikovs merchant family. Its architecture represents an amazing mixture of baroque and classical elements with traditional volumetric wood carving. In 1837, the successor of the Russian throne Cesarevitch Alexander Nikolaevitch, the future emperor Alexander II, happened to stay in this house.

“MASHAROV’S HOUSE”

This is a stone private residence of the XIX^th century. It belonged to a well-known Tyumen industrialist Nikolay Masharov (1865-1922). The interior of the house has been carefully reconstructed in details and can tell us a lot about aesthetic inquiries of merchant families a century ago. Visitors can also see various assortments of the cast-iron articles made at Masharov’s factory.

Photo exhibitions, musical and poetic nights are held in the premises nowadays.

The archeological museum and reserve on lake andreevskoye

In 1883 25 kilometres from Tyumen, on a picturesque shore of lake Andreevskoye, the first archeological excavations were carried out. The numerous expeditions working subsequently in this area discovered a lot of ancient settlements of different epochs, fragments of burial grounds and sanctuaries. The earliest of them go back to the Stone Age.

Five Iron Age sites have survived in a good condition on the territory of the museum-reserve to this day. An ancient Mansi sanctuary of the IX-Xiii centuries gave archeologists a number of articles of cult and ornaments unknown before.

The exhibition “Lake Andreevskoye – a Unique Archeological Complex” describes the history of the Region from the earliest times to the present day.

Lake Andreevskoye is a system of lakes with flowing water. Fish could be caught here throughout the year, thus providing a regular source of sustenance for its ancient population. This factor attracted people to this area from early times.