The museum is often called the Ivanovo Hermitage. It is considered to be one of the best provincial museums in Russia. An incredibly rich collection of weapons, old books, coins, porcelain and many other items from antiquity to the beginning of the twentieth century was collected by the founder of the museum, industrialist and philanthropist Dmitry Burylin.

At Arsenal you can see executioners' swords and a pistol made by the famous master Alexei Surnin who was the prototype of Lefty, the hero of the story by Nikolai Leskov. The European Hall contains some of the first printed books of the fifteenth century. The numismatics collection includes a tiny Petrovsky penny-louse and huge Catherine's coins-boards. In the Golden Pantry there are a saber adorned with a thousand diamonds and a robe with twenty thousand pearls. Here you can even find the death mask of Peter I and find out if the legend about the little head of the emperor is true.

The most interesting and unusual exhibit of the museum is an astronomical clock with 95 dials. In the 19th century, they were shown throughout Europe as the eighth wonder of the world. The watch showed not only the time in the largest cities of the world, but also the date according to four calendars and the movement of stars and planets.

The first underground passage in Ivanovo, where according to legend the ghost of the merchant Neburchilova wanders, connects the building with the Museum of Ivanovo Calico.

Contacts
Website
+7 493 232 74 05

Operating hours
Monday Closed
Tuesday – Sunday 11 – 17.30 (ticket office opened until 17)
Last Friday of each month Closed