Description of the attraction
The Vitebsk Regional Museum of Local Lore was opened in the building of the Vitebsk City Hall. The museum collection began in 1868. Then the first museum in Vitebsk was opened at the provincial statistical committee.
In 1918, the collection of A. R. Brodovsky laid the foundation for the Vitebsk Provincial Museum. Order No. 3407 of the provincial department of public education was issued on the creation of the museum. Brodovsky, who donated his collection to the museum, became the first director of the provincial museum. The exposition is housed in the former residential building of the Basilian monastery. Even then, there were more than 10 thousand exhibits in it.
On November 4, 1924, the town hall building was transferred to the museum, a new director was appointed I. I. Vasilevich and the museum was renamed into the Belarusian State Museum. On April 27, 1927, a new exposition was opened, which occupied three floors of the city hall. The museum funds numbered 30 thousand exhibits.
In 1929, the collection of the museum was replenished with Ural gems, French engravings, porcelain from different countries of the world, the best paintings by Belarusian artists. However, in 1930, all museum employees were fired for the low ideological level of work with the population. From that day on, all original paintings were replaced with reproductions and photographs, and a large amount of communist propaganda appeared in the museum in the form of posters. The museum was named socio-historical and told the history of the native land from the point of view of socialist ideology.
During the Great Patriotic War, the museum was lucky - its funds were evacuated to the rear - to Saratov. During the war, many exhibits were collected illustrating the feat of the Belarusian people during the Nazi occupation. Immediately after the war, an exposition dedicated to the war years was opened.
Now the Vitebsk Regional Museum of Local Lore has the most interesting collections: archaeological, military (Great Patriotic War) and natural.
