The Baranavičy Local History Museum was founded in 1929 on the initiative of Lieanard Turski. Today the museum is located in a historical building of the late XIX – early XX century. The exposition is located in seven halls, where visitors can see more than 2 thousand exhibits, which introduce the historical past and the richness of nature of the Baranavičy land.

The Baranavičy Local History Museum was founded as a museum of uyezd. At the beginning of 1929, the administration of the Baranavičy Uyezd decided to organize an exhibition that would reflect the life of the uyezd, the economic and cultural state of the city and the region. The local historian Lieanard Turski suggested creating a public museum with an art gallery instead of a temporary exhibition in Baranavičy. The museum consisted of 3 main sections: section of nature, ethnography, history – and a subsection of books. After the annexation of Western Belarus to the BSSR in 1939, the museum of the uyezd was turned into the Baranavičy Regional Museum of Fine Arts.

As a result of the occupation of Belarus by the Nazis, the museum lost 1,716 valuable exhibits. Among them there are paintings by Rembrant, Jan Matejka, Teador Žeryko, a collection of ancient Japanese vases that were exported to Germany. The museum actually ceased to exist. Only in 1952 the Baranavičy museum resumed its activity. The main collections were transported to Baranavičy from Slonim. In 1954, due to the cancellation of the Baranavičy region, the museum received its modern name.

The museum exposition is located in 7 halls with a total area of ​​250 square meters and has 3 sections. The section "Nature of the Baranavičy Region" introduces the flora and fauna of the Baranavičy District. The section "History of the Baranavičy Region" contains materials on the ancient and modern history of the Baranavičy District. Exposition section “Baranavičy. The city we live in” includes materials about Baranavičy from 1985 to the present.

The museum funds contain 35 collections: of postcards with landscapes of Baranavičy (the beginning and the first third of the XX century), archaeological finds, ethnography, underground publications, paintings and graphics, posters from the Second World War. Among the most interesting exhibits there are 2 chasubles, sewn from the famous Sluck belts, the Statute of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania of 1694.

Publication date: 18.02.2021.

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