The museum was based on the collections of the school public museum, which in 1963 was transformed into a branch of the Khujand Museum of Local Lore, and since 1980, by decision of the Ministry of Culture of the TSSR, it became an independent museum.
The museum occupies the building of a former Orthodox church built in 1865-1867. It was one of the first brick buildings in the city, along with the governor's house, a school and a number of administrative buildings, all of which are well preserved and adorn one of the central parts of the city, which many residents continue to call the "Russian quarter".
Nazarov Nasriddin, a teacher of history, was the initiator of the creation of the museum and the first collector of its collections in the 1950s and 1960s. Today, the museum's collection includes 4,300 items on archeology and ethnography of the Tajiks of Northern Tajikistan, most of the items were collected in Istaravshan and its environs. A great contribution to the study of the culture and history of Istaravshan was made by specialists and employees of the Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan, who carried out excavations in the vicinity of the city. The museum's collection also includes book and newspaper funds, a collection of photographs and documents.
Deployed in a spacious hall with an area of about 250 square meters, the exposition tells about the ancient and medieval history of Istaravshan, about the culture, traditional occupations and crafts of the inhabitants of the city, which today is famous for its blacksmiths, woodcarvers, artists, gold embroiderers, ceramists, jewelers.
Museum visitors can get acquainted with the decoration of a traditional Tajik house, with a rich collection of traditional clothes and jewelry, with a collection of manuscripts and a numismatic collection. Gifts from the Government and the President of the Republic for the 2500th anniversary of the city are included in a separate part of the exposition.
On the site of the old city fortress Kalai Mug, towering above the city, in 2002, in honor of the celebration of the 2500th anniversary of the city of Istaravshan, a monumental front arch was built, inside which there is a hall with an archaeological exposition representing the collections of the Local History Museum on the archeology of the ancient city citadel . The exposition is open to visitors in agreement with the administration of the museum.
Etiquette in Tajik and English.
The museum organizes study tours for schoolchildren, meetings of students with participants of the Great Patriotic War and labor veterans. The museum takes part in city events dedicated to the state holidays of Tajikistan, as well as in the holidays dedicated to Navruz and the Muslim holiday of sacrifice (Idi Kurbon), organizing small traveling exhibitions and lectures. The museum courtyard often hosts concerts by students of the music school and exhibitions of works by students of the art school.
Address: 735610 Republic of Tajikistan,
Sughd region, Istaravshan
st. Oli Somon, 18
The museum is open: daily from 8.00 to 17.00
Saturday and Sunday: from 9.00 to 16.00
Lunch break: from 12.00 to 13.00
Paid entrance.