MUSEUM OF THE HISTORY OF THE RESORT CITY OF SOCHI

Museum of the History of the resort city of Sochi was founded in 1920 and is one of the oldest cultural institutions of Krasnodar region. Over its long history, the Museum has formed a collection of almost 100 thousand of historical and cultural heritage exhibits. The building was erected in 1936, during the first General reconstruction of Sochi and bears the features of contemporary Neoclassicism. Similar structures constituted the architectural background and the cityscape of Sochi in the 1930s, a small subset of which still remains. A new exposition currently on display, is emplaced in 14 rooms with a total area of more than 700 sq. m. It shows the history of the black sea coast of the Caucasus and Sochi from ancient times to the present and includes more than 4 thousand unique exhibits. Among them, there are archaeological monuments of Sochi, ethnography, household and culture items of the multinational population of the region, documents and photographs. A large section is dedicated to the history of the resort development on this territory unfolding the theme “Sochi as the capital of Russian resorts”. Of particular interest to visitors is the stationary exhibition “Man and Space”, where a unique Soyuz-9 spacecraft lander module and the astronauts onboard household items are displayed. The exhibits of the Museum help the visitor to immerse into the mysterious world of the Western Caucasus nature, make a “journey” to the bottom of the Black sea and meet its inhabitants, learn the secrets of the ancient Sochi land. The Museum has become one of the most interesting recreational and excursion objects, telling about the history of the region and its prospects of development as a mountain-climatic resort and the potential Olympic capital.