The permanent exhibition “Venets Through the Centuries” of the Ulyanovsk Regional Museum of Local Lore named after Ivan Goncharov includes over 500 exhibits that highlight the history of the region from ancient times to the events of the February Revolution of 1917.
Items of the archaeological collection shed light on the human activity in this territory during the Stone and Bronze Age and the first state in the history of the Middle Volga region — Volga Bulgaria (the 10th–14th centuries). The documents presented in the section devoted to the history of the region in the 17th century trace the origins of the fortress town of Simbirsk, which was able to honorably withstand the month-long siege of Stepan Razin’s troops and become the only Volga town to stop Razin’s campaign against Moscow. The central place in the section on the history of the Simbirsk region of the 18th century is occupied by materials related to the uprising led by Yemelyan Pugachev. Numerous documentary sources and objects of material culture reveal the administrative history of the region and its social and economic development at the end of the 18th century.
In the context of Russian history, the exhibition traces the economic and cultural development of the Simbirsk Governorate in the 19th century and represents the most outstanding Simbirsk citizens and the way of life of the nobility and peasants. A special place in the museum is occupied by a rich ethnographic collection.
The final section of the exhibition presents materials covering the social and economic aspects of life of the governorate city of the early 20th century, the events of the First World War and the February Revolution of 1917.
Exhibits are marked with AR stickers for identification purposes.
