The exhibitions of the museum illustrate the everyday life and culture of the people of Russia in the XIX-XX centuries. They were the Slavs, peoples of the Volga region, Siberia and the North of Russia, Central Asia and the Caucasus.
The collections of the museum have over half a million exhibits. The museum's first exhibits were the gifts presented to the Russian Tsars by peoples inhabited Imperial Russia. These were enlarged by regular expeditions to various parts of the Russian Empire started in 1901. Further exhibits were purchased by Nicholas II of Russia and other members of his family. A collection of Buddhist religious objects was acquired for the museum by Prince Esper Ukhtomsky. Prince Tenishev who was a wealthy industrialist, donated to the museum the archives of his private ethnographic bureau. The archives are unique documentation the life of Russian peasants since the 19th century.
Open: TU 11.00a.m. - 6.00p.m. Last admission-one hour earlier
Closed: MO and every last Friday of a month