The Ternopil Regional Museum of Local Lore, founded in the early twentieth century, is known not only to Ukrainians, but also to residents of far and near abroad as a serious scientific and educational institution.
In 1906 opened the first museum institution — the regional museum of Podolsk society «People’s School». Local local historians, who were members of the society, began to clamor for the creation of a museum in Ternopil. It was the collections of exhibits collected at that time that determined the basis of the modern museum. For the first exposition they collected various archaeological finds, coupons (old money), coins, clothes, printed materials of that time, and inventions of nature. In 1910 for the museum were allocated 4 rooms in the house of the society «People’s School», and three years of work on the creation of the first collection. The chronicle of the museum begins with the first date of its opening on April 13, 1913. And only in 1939 in g. Ternopil was created a state institution — Ternopil Museum of Local History. Its main fund was the collections of the existing museum, which were gradually replenished with new exhibits about the labor life of the city and the region.
Nowadays the museum collection consists of about 200 thousand exhibits. It includes royal documentation dating back to the first years of the city’s existence (16th century), items of military paraphernalia (Cossack, Tatar, Turkish weapons), the rarest Spanish (17th century) and German equipment (18th century). Magnificently decorated rooms, many items of folk clothing, coins, works of arts and crafts, paintings, creations of famous sculptors Pinzel and Osinski.
The collection of the museum has about 500 embroidered rushniki, most of which are unique. Embroidered rushniki will reveal to you the originality of the Ternopil region and deep ornamental traditions, fine taste and many different methods of embroidery. The collection also includes Galician, Bukovyna, Volyn and Podillya motifs of embroidered ornaments. Especially valuable are the rushniki, created on the motifs of ancient embroidery.
One of the most amazing finds of recent times in Ternopil region is the oldest icon, painted after World War I by the famous artist of the early XX century Anton Monastyrsky. Now it is among the many extraordinary archaeological finds and exhibits that decorate and delight visitors of the Ternopil Museum of Local Lore.