Description of the attraction
The National Historical Museum of the Republic of Belarus has a long and complicated history. The year of foundation of the museum is considered to be 1957, since during the war almost all museum funds were plundered. The museum is located in a building built in 1903-1905 for a branch of the State Bank of Russia.
The first attempt to create a national history museum in Minsk was made back in 1908. With the support of the Orthodox Church, a museum of the Minsk Church-Archaeological Committee was created. In 1912, the Minsk City Duma financed, and the Minsk Society of Natural History, Ethnography and Archeology Lovers created the Minsk City Museum, containing five sections: archaeological, natural science, history, art-industrial, ethnographic.
After the revolution in 1920, the museum was renamed the Minsk Regional Museum and was supplemented by the funds of the Minsk Church-Archaeological Museum, evacuated to Ryazan during the First World War. In 1923 the museum was transformed into the Belarusian State Museum, where a library was also created.
Unfortunately, after the Great Patriotic War, fundraising work had to start again. In 1957, the museum was named the Belarusian State Museum of History and Local Lore, in 1992 - the National Museum of History and Culture of Belarus, in 2009 the museum received the final name of the National Historical Museum of the Republic of Belarus.
Today it is the largest historical museum in Belarus and one of the most visited museums in Minsk. It has three buildings and funds of more than 370 storage units, presented in 40 sections. The exhibits of the museum cover a huge time period: from the primitive communal system and the first human settlements to the present day.
Rare treasures of coins, national, everyday and ceremonial costumes and dresses, household items, religious cult items, collections of weapons of all times, products of folk craftsmen, a large exposition of jewelry and many other interesting things are kept here.
