Shuya Soap Museum

The Shuya Soap Museum ranks first in the tourist sites ranking in Shuya. It is one of the top 10 tourist attractions in the Ivanovo region and was the winner of the Presidential Grants Fund competition in 2018.

Why do people choose us? We have an individual approach to each visitor. We have experienced and competent guides, individual programs that take into account the needs and capabilities of travelers, and we conduct tours in foreign languages – we have fun!

On a Shuya Soap Museum tour you will discover the history of Russian soap making, soap making technology from the 17th to the 21st centuries, traditions of bathing and washing in different countries, the influence of soap on the production of other goods, and much more. There are more than 500 unique exhibits on an area of 200 square meters.

During a master class in soap making and soap carving you will create your first soap, fragrant and unique, and you will learn all the secrets of Shuya soap producers. While the soap hardens, a quiz is conducted with handmade fragrant soap as prizes. Then you will get to carve decorations into your soap. When it is finished, you can take it with you as a souvenir!

On a sightseeing tour of the city of Shuya you will learn the reason for the unusual name of the city, when Shuya appeared, what royal persons honored our city with their presence and why, how Peter I was healed of a serious illness in Shuya, and if there is really a lake with mermaids near Shuya. You will find answers to these and other questions during the sightseeing tour. You will see the oldest educational institution in the Ivanovo region, admire the old merchant mansions, see a unique creation of the author of the Moscow Mausoleum, and get inspired by the spirit of a small industrial city with a rebellious nature. We will also climb the famous 106-meter bell tower and visit the world’s only open-air fairy tale museum.

The soap opera tour begins with a visit to the Shuya Soap Museum then continues with a tour of the ancient city of Shuya. Lunch is eaten at the farmstead of the manufacturer Neburchilov and followed by a visit to the ancient villages of Dunilovo and Vvedenieu, to existing churches and monasteries. The program is easily adapted to your needs.

The Shuya Soap Museum is not only a museum of an object, but also of a story. It has very interesting exhibits; for example, a collection of antique soaps (laundry soaps, toilet soaps), a collection of natural minerals from soap, a mock-up of a soap factory, and a huge number of works from soap carving contests done by Shuya citizens, including the famous 106-meter Shuya bell tower.

The collection of the exhibits began in 2001, when the idea came to create a soap museum – the most logical museum for a city in which a bar of soap is found on the coat of arms.

The city of Shuya is the birthplace of Russian soap making, but today the Shuya Soap Museum is the only materialized justification for the presence of a bar of soap on the coat of arms. The museum holds the most valuable ancient soap recipes. Today, museum visitors can get acquainted with the history of Shuya soap making and with real Shuya soap made according to the old recipes of Shuya soap craftsmen.