The living history of the Mezen land

The museum was opened on the basis of the public local lore museum on 18 January 1980 — the year of the town Mezen’s 200^th anniversary. The museum specialists work on preserving, exhibiting and studying the historical-cultural heritage of the Mezen area, studying the history and culture of the former Mezen parish up to 1891 — the parish that used to occupy a half of the territory of the Arkhangelsk county (today it is the territory of the Mezen and Leshukon districts, Nenets Autonomous Okrug, the northern part of Komi republic and the islands of the Western part of the Arctic Ocean).

The museum holdings comprise more than nine thousand objects, including documents and photos. The permanent historical exposition “Historical-cultural heritage of the Mezen area from ancient to modern times” created by the museum specialists in cooperation with the artist Tatiana Elatomtseva (Saint Petersburg) was opened in 2015.

The exposition tells its visitors about the colonisation of the territory starting from ancient encampments and the first Old Russian settlements — the famous defence and trade centres along the passage to Siberia across the Urals. The visitors of the exposition can get to know about the life of brave merchants, the way of life and customs of Pomors, traditional Mezen businesses and crafts, the history of Mezen citizens participation in difficult sailings from Grumant (the Pomor name for Spitsbergen) to the Pacific Ocean and their ability to survive in harsh conditions of the Far North, the deed of arms and labour feat of the locals, their everyday life and holidays in the 18^th–20^th centuries.

Today, the Mezen History and Local Lore Museum is the centre of local lore work, the main arranger of cultural and educational events for the citizens and guests of the town and the informational base for the public museums of the district.