The Viciebsk Regional Museum of Local Lore is located in the building of the former city hall on vulica Lienina, 36

The museum in Viciebsk was founded on November 12, 1918 by the order of the Viciebsk Provincial Department of Public Education. It was located in the former seminary building and opened to the public in May 1919. On November 19, 1924, the Council of People's Commissars of the BSSR adopted a resolution on the establishment of the Viciebsk branch of the Belarusian State Museum. The museum is located in the former city hall. The first exhibitions for visitors opened on April 27, 1925.

The museum has repeatedly changed its name: in 1918–1924 — Viciebsk Provincial Museum; 1924–1929 — Viciebsk Department of the Belarusian State Museum; 1929–1932 — Viciebsk Cultural and Historical Museum; 1932–1937 —-Viciebsk Social and Historical Museum; 1939–1941 — Viciebsk Regional State Historical Museum; 1947–1951 — Viciebsk Regional Museum of Local Lore. The modern name "Viciebsk Regional Museum of Local Lore" has been established since 1951.

During the World War II, part of the collections of the Vitciebsk Regional Museum was loaded into a car together with the collection of the Judeĺ Pen Art Gallery and evacuated to Saratov.

Today, the museum's collections contain materials of archaeological excavations in the Viciebsk Region (goods made of flint, bone, horn, leather shoes of the 12th–13th centuries, birch bark letters of the 13th –14th centuries, writing materials, jewelry made of glass, carnelian, amber, moulded and pottery ceramics). There are also collections of natural science, numismatics, sphragistics, parcelan, weapons, old printed books of the 17th–18th centuries, tools and household items of the 18th–20th centuries, personal collections of historians and local historians Anton Bradoŭski, Aliaksiej Sapunoŭ and Vaclaŭ Fiedarovič.

The museum contains materials about the activities of political parties in the Viciebsk Region, the events of the Revolution of 1905–1907, the February and October Revolutions (1917). A special place is occupied by materials about the Great Patriotic War. These are exhibits about the activities of the Viciebsk Underground Regional Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus, the Viciebsk, Orša, Liepieĺ underground, Obaĺ, Proškaŭ, Asintorf underground organizations, about the liberation of the region from the German invaders in 1944. The partisan movement in the Viciebsk Region is represented by partisan leaflets, newspapers, weapons, awards and personal belongings of Minaj Šmyroŭ, Uladzimir Labanok, Danila Rajcaŭ, Aliaksiej Danukalaŭ.

Publication date: 15.02.2021.

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