The Kovalenko Art Museum on Krasnaya Street is one of the better regional art museums in southern Russia, with a collection of Russian art from the 18th century to the 20th century, Western European paintings and decorative arts, and local Kuban material. The Russian section is the strongest, with works spanning the Imperial academic tradition through to the Soviet period.
The building itself — a restored 19th-century merchant house — is attractive, and the smaller scale compared to Moscow and St Petersburg museums means the collection can be seen properly in a couple of hours. The museum is particularly good on local Cossack history rendered in painting and decorative arts — an aspect of Russian culture that gets little coverage elsewhere.