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Anokhin National Museum of the Altai Republic
Address:
Altai Republic, Gorno-Altaisk, 46 Grigory Choros-Gurkin St.
Branches:
- Historical and Ethnographic Museum of the Telengits of Chui (Altai Republic, Kosh-Agachsky District, Kokorya village, 15 Oktyabrsky Lane);
- Museum-Estate of G.I. Choros-Gurkin (Altai Republic, Chemalsky District, Anos village, 31 Tsentralnaya St.);
- Museum of the Altai Kazakhs (Altai Republic, Kosh-Agachsky District, Zhana-Aul village, 10 Abay St.);
- I.V. Shodoev Museum of Local Lore (Altai Republic, Ust-Kan village, 103 Leninskaya St.).
Contacts:
- Email: musey_anohin@mail.ru
- Tour guides: (3882) 24-77-73
- Reception: (3882) 24-77-70
Official website:
Opening hours:
- Monday–Tuesday: Closed
- Wednesday–Saturday: from 9:30 to 18:00
- Sunday: from 9:30 to 17:00
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[ ▶︎ ] Video Review
Brief historical background, collections and exhibitions of the museum
The history of the Anokhin National Museum of the Altai Republic begins in October 1918, when the Karakorum-Altai District Council, at the initiative of its chairman, the artist G.I. Choros-Gurkin, acquired paleontological, archaeological, and mineralogical collections, a scientific library, and an archive from the famous Siberian local historian N.S. Gulyaev, one of the founders of the Society of Altai Exploration Amateurs. These materials, which his father S.I. Gulyaev had begun to collect, formed the basis of the future museum. The official founding year of the museum is 1920, when the board of the Gorno-Altai Department of Public Education decided to "recognize the necessity of creating a museum in Gorny Altai." A.V. Anokhin, the first head of the museum, played a significant role in its further development, as did the local history movement he initiated in 1925–1926 and the "Society of Friends of the Oirot Local History Museum" that was established.
In its early years, the museum could not function fully due to the lack of a permanent building (from 1920 to 1927, the museum moved repeatedly from one locality to another). On December 7, 1926, the museum was provided with a separate space in Ulala. It was a one-room stone building on the Bazaar Square – the house-shop of the merchant D. Tobokov, which had previously housed the Hunters' Union.
In 1931, the museum was moved to the former shop of the merchant Bodunov at 16 Sovetskaya Street and was housed in 3 rooms on the ground floor; the main part of the building was occupied by the Oirot Art School and the Oirot Regional Archive.
From 1933 to 1989, the museum came to occupy the entire house, which the population of Gorno-Altaisk still calls the "Old Museum."
In 1989, the museum moved into a new three-story building specially constructed for it. With the move to the new building, the museum gained the ability to conduct full-scale exhibition work, showing visitors the most interesting items that had been collected and preserved throughout its history.
On May 28, 1990, by the decree of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR No. 599-R of Moscow and the Order of the Ministry of Culture of the RSFSR dated June 8, 1990, No. 204, the Gorno-Altai Regional Museum of Local Lore was named after A.V. Anokhin. In 2002, by a Decree of the Government of the Altai Republic, the museum was granted national status.
The collections of the National Museum house the entire spectrum of material and spiritual culture of the peoples of the Altai Republic: archaeological finds characterizing all the main stages of the ancient history of Gorny Altai, ethnographic collections of clothing and household items, works of fine and decorative art, natural science collections, and photographic and documentary materials. In total, there are more than 60,000 storage units.
Unique collections:
- Paintings and graphic works by the first professional artist among the indigenous peoples of Siberia, a student of I.I. Shishkin and the Academy of Arts – Grigory Ivanovich Choros-Gurkin (1500 works);
- Works by the artist Nikolai Ivanovich Chevalkov and others;
- A collection of rare books from the 17th–20th centuries, and icons;
- Archaeological finds from frozen mounds, deer stones, statues, Turkic runic inscriptions, and shamanic paraphernalia.
