Description of the attraction
In the city of Vorkuta of the Komi Republic there is the famous Vorkuta interdistrict museum of local lore, located at Lenin Street, 38. The museum was founded on July 12, 1959, but the opening took place on May 3, 1960, according to the decision of the executive committee of the City Council of Workers' Deputies of the city of Vorkuta dated April 28 1959
The very first exhibitions of the local history museum told about the geology of the native land, civil and industrial construction, the coal mining industry, the development of everyday, cultural and scientific areas of society.
In the period between 1963 and 1964, the museum staff prepared a stationary exhibition entirely devoted to the theme of nature. The next year, a unique art gallery was opened, which is part of the museum itself. In 1966, numerous visitors of the local history museum got acquainted with the stationary exposition of the historical department, which was attended by the respected scientist L. A. Bratsev and the discoverer of a coal deposit in the Vorkuta region G. A. Chernov. It is important that 1966 was fruitful in terms of cooperation as well, because it was then that the popular Lenin Museum, conducting its activities and work on a voluntary basis at school No. 11, became part of the Vorkuta Interdistrict Museum as a branch. Today this museum department is located in a village called Vorgashor and represents the exposition "Native North - Man and Nature", located in two halls: "Ethnographic Hall" and "Nature of the Region".
The local history museum has developed a justification for the boundaries of the study of the Vorkuta region within the framework of the previously operating Pechora district, in which during the late 19th - early 20th centuries, not only full-fledged economic ties were formed, but also ethnocultural respectful relations between Russians, Komi, and also the Nenets.
On December 17, 1968, the Council of Ministers of the Komi Republic issued an order that the Vorkuta Regional Museum of Local Lore, due to a significant increase in the volume of work related to a thorough study of the zone of distribution of the Far North, receives the status of an interdistrict museum.
In the fall of 1990, a new spacious exhibition hall was opened in the museum, the total area of which was 360 square meters. Talented artists of the city of Vorkuta had a unique opportunity to fully present their work in the framework of annual exhibitions in their hometown.
It is worth noting that the museum funds keep a unique collection of old programs and theatrical posters of the Vorkuta Music and Drama Theater, which was created on the basis of the GULAG during the 1940-1950s. Valuable exhibits were the filing of a local newspaper called "Zapolyarnaya Kochegarka" (40-50s of the 20th century), historical objects telling about VorkutLag - a kind of chess made from crumb of bread, greeting cards made by hand, as well as items and accessories camp life. The art collection presented in the museum numbers about seven hundred units. Equally rich are the funds dedicated to rare ethnographic exhibits.
The year 2000 was especially fruitful for the local history museum, because, together with the Memorial branch of the city of Vorkuta, the museum received a grant from the Soros Foundation, which was carried out under a program called "Civil Law" within the framework of the project "Lessons from the past - for the edification of the future."
Due to the fact that the Vorkuta Museum of Local Lore has the status of an interdistrict museum, it represents the culture and life of the native land since antiquity. The hall dedicated to nature gives an extensive view of the unique fauna of the native land. The history room tells about the development of the region from the point of view of industry.
Currently, the following excursions are available in the museum: "Ancient Pechora Territory", "Animal World of the Tundra", "Vorkuta in the 1930s", "Front Vorkuta", "Native Land in Geographical Names", "Protected Areas of the Vorkuta Tundra" and a lot others.
