The Engels Museum of Local Lore is one of the most prominent and popular cultural establishments of the city of Engels. It was founded on July 9, 1925, when an official decision was made to establish the Central Museum of the Republic of Volga Germans. Georg Genrikhovich Dinges, a talented linguist, ethnographer, professor of Saratov University, came forward with the initiative to create the museum and became its first director. The collection assembled in the first years, included clothes and household items of the German and Ukrainian population of the republic, old manuscripts on the history of foreign colonies, materials on ethnography and archaeology. In August 1941, after the abolition of the Republic of Volga Germans, the museum was closed. Most of its exhibits were distributed to different institutions for storage, as a result of which they were irretrievably lost. After the end of the Great Patriotic War the museum was re-established, but now in the status of the city museum of local lore.
Today the museum is located in the very center of
the city on the bank of the Volga River near the city square, park and
embankment. With its vast exhibition space, the museum does not limit itself
conceptually to conventional frameworks and is actively building a model of a
new museum adapted to modern life. Along with traditional exhibitions on the
history of the region, modern art shows are held, and there are also historical
and literary forums. The museum is actively working to promote regional history
through publishing and project activities, actively cooperating with urban and
interregional organizations.
