Location: Chistopol, Karl Marx Str. 8, Museum of the city history
The Museum of the city history (or the Museum of Local Lore) was founded in Chistopol in 1921 by A.C. Bulich, a well-known naturalist and archaeologist. His private collection numbered over 5000 items. Since 8 April 1928, the museum was housed in the former private residence of A.A. Poduruev, a merchant from Kazan. In 1987 after the reconstruction and organization of the new exhibition the museum acquired its present name – the Museum of a Provincial city, or Museum of the city history. Now there are over 30000 items in the museum collections. Among them, there are such rarities as wooden bicycles made by N.I. Melnikov, a peasant from the village named Chistopolskye Vyselky according to his own project in the early XXth century (1902 and 1909); the old-printed books, pictures, and icons.
The Bulgarian collection discovered in the seat of the ancient town named Gucke-Tau (Dzhuke-Tau, editor) is a subject of the special pride of the museum. Among them were the Bulgarian silver coins of the XI-XIIth centuries, old jewellery, mirror fragments, and sherocones.
The ethnographic department of the museum also has items of great interest including the handicraft wares of the nations of the Central Volga region – Tatars, Russians, Chuvashs are of special value. There is a unique collection of handicraft wares of the Kazan Tatars including examples of gold embroidery, mosaic leathern shoes, and wearing embroidered clothes as details of the traditional interior.
In 1986 a unique collection of graceful articles made of wood belonging to D.P. Dobrovolsky was joined to the museum treasures. People admire them up to nowadays. The collections of the
The Museum of a Provincial City in Chistopol extensively presents the natural and cultural heritage of the land always attracting the attention of both inhabitants and visitors of the city. (Source: “Museum of the Provincial City” brochure)
