The Smolensk State Museum-Reserve is one of the largest museum associations in Russia. The museum includes 12 exposition departments in Smolensk and 5 branches in the region. The museum association was formed based on three museums: historical and archaeological, historical and ethnographic and natural history museum. These museums were created at different times and represented different forms of organizing museum activities: under the City Duma, on the basis of a private collection and under a public organization. In 1920, all museums were merged into a single provincial museum under the supervising of the provincial museum administration. In subsequent years, there have been several changes in the name of the association and its structure. In 2011, the Regional State Budgetary Institution of Culture ‘Smolensk State Museum-Reserve’ was organized.
Work is underway to create a permanent exhibition in the museum, the sections ‘The Ancient History of Smolensk " and ‘Smolensk as part of the Ancient Rus in the 9th — early 13th centuries’ are open. The exposition ‘The Ancient History of Smolensk’ includes more than 1500 items from the archaeological fund of the museum. These are evidence Smolensk region history from the Stone Age to the early Middle Ages.
Work is underway to create a permanent exhibition in the museum, the sections ‘The Ancient History of Smolensk " and ‘Smolensk as part of the Ancient Rus in the 9th — early 13th centuries’ are open. The exposition ‘The Ancient History of Smolensk’ includes more than 1500 items from the archaeological fund of the museum. These are evidence Smolensk region history from the Stone Age to the early Middle Ages.
