The Lock Museum

The Lock Museum is a separate project within the framework of the activities of the Moscow Regional Public Foundation for Historical and Local History Research and Humanitarian Initiatives “Heritage”.

The museum is based on a collection that has been collected for decades by the founder and permanent head of the Heritage Foundation, historian Igor Dachenkov. It consists of over 7000 antiquities, including more than a thousand locks from different countries and eras.

There are about 700 items in the permanent exposition. They are ancient Roman key-rings, locks and keys from medieval Europe and Ancient Russia, locks with secrets from India and China, granary locks, boxes with original locking mechanisms, locks, horse harnesses and shackles, and picklocks.

Along with axe locks from castles and monasteries of the XVIIth century two unique exhibits take a special place in the museum funds: the lock from the Ancient Bulgars, one of the largest cities of the Bulgarsky ulus of the Golden Horde (now a historical monument in Tatarstan) and a four-kilogram key from the Vasilkov fortress of the Kiev fortress with a monogram of Russian Emperor Nikolai the First (1825-1855).

The originality of designs and decorations distinguishes the products of metal craftsmen from Pavlov-on-Oka, Nizhny Novgorod region. These include zoomorphic items (with images of animals) and jewellery locks, including miniature ones.

Also you can see a variety of household items: samovars and irons, old furniture and household items, utensils, coins and more.