Krasnodar Regional History Museum

The Krasnodar Regional History Museum (Krasnodarsky Gosudarstvenny Istoriko-Arkheologichesky Muzey) covers the history of the Kuban region from Palaeolithic times through the Scythian and Greek colonial periods, the Cossack settlement, and into the Soviet era. The archaeological collection is the strongest section — the Kuban steppe was one of the most active zones of Scythian culture, and the burial mound excavations of the 19th and 20th centuries produced extraordinary finds.

The Cossack history section is also well presented, covering the Black Sea Cossack Host that settled this region and built Krasnodar. The Soviet-era material is handled with the mixture of nostalgia and ambivalence typical of Russian regional museums. Allow two hours.

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The museum holds the Maykop Gold — a collection of gold and silver objects from a 4th-century BC Scythian burial mound excavated in the Kuban steppe in 1897. The Maykop burial was one of the richest Scythian finds of the 19th century and gave its name to an entire Early Bronze Age culture. The original pieces are still considered among the finest examples of ancient steppe metalwork in Russia.

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