 The museum was founded on March 1, 1920, by "Nikanor Onatsky" (1875–1937), an artist, teacher and public figure, an apprentice of Ilya Repin.The museum was formed on the basis of local private collections that had been nationalised and O. Gansen’s collection that was located in the city at that time.The exposition and the funds of the museum number over 15,000 museum pieces.