The museum’s founder and first director was Mikhail Pavlovich Trunov (1867–1942), a doctor, local historian, and public figure. The residents of Lipetsk donated the first exhibits and started the museum collection. About 200 people became the co-founders of the museum.
In 1918, the Lipetsk Folk Museum was opened based on the nationalized museum of the Petrovsky Society. In the first year of its existence, the collection increased and began to include highly valuable exhibits from requisitioned estates and city houses: paintings and sculptures, porcelain and bronze objects.
In 1954, the institution received the status of a regional one and became the leading museum of the Lipetsk region, a methodological center for scientific, collecting and educational activities.
The museum houses collections of materials that reflect the history of the Lipetsk region from ancient times to the present day. The museum collection includes more than 300,000 objects, including archeological finds, ethnographic and numismatic items, paintings, drawings, sculptures, household items, photographs, and rare books.
Among the most significant exhibits are the paintings by old masters: Ivan Aivazovsky, Ivan Shishkin, Alexander Makovsky, and Igor Grabar; a unique collection of everyday merchant portraits painted by local artists in the first half of the 19th century; collection of clay Romanovo toys; memorabilia of Georgi Plekhanov, Tikhon Khrennikov, Ivan Mashkov, and Pyotr Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky, as well as the items related to the history of ironworks in the Lipetsk region.
The museum also houses very rare items, such as the mid-19th century oak cabinet set, decorated with high reliefs depicting biblical and mythological scenes, as well as the altar Gospel of the late 17th century in a silver revetment, which was donated, according to legend, by Peter the Great to the Lebedyansky Trinity Monastery.
In 1918, the Lipetsk Folk Museum was opened based on the nationalized museum of the Petrovsky Society. In the first year of its existence, the collection increased and began to include highly valuable exhibits from requisitioned estates and city houses: paintings and sculptures, porcelain and bronze objects.
In 1954, the institution received the status of a regional one and became the leading museum of the Lipetsk region, a methodological center for scientific, collecting and educational activities.
The museum houses collections of materials that reflect the history of the Lipetsk region from ancient times to the present day. The museum collection includes more than 300,000 objects, including archeological finds, ethnographic and numismatic items, paintings, drawings, sculptures, household items, photographs, and rare books.
Among the most significant exhibits are the paintings by old masters: Ivan Aivazovsky, Ivan Shishkin, Alexander Makovsky, and Igor Grabar; a unique collection of everyday merchant portraits painted by local artists in the first half of the 19th century; collection of clay Romanovo toys; memorabilia of Georgi Plekhanov, Tikhon Khrennikov, Ivan Mashkov, and Pyotr Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky, as well as the items related to the history of ironworks in the Lipetsk region.
The museum also houses very rare items, such as the mid-19th century oak cabinet set, decorated with high reliefs depicting biblical and mythological scenes, as well as the altar Gospel of the late 17th century in a silver revetment, which was donated, according to legend, by Peter the Great to the Lebedyansky Trinity Monastery.
