The Irbit Folk Life Museum

The Irbit Folk Life Museum’s official opening took place on May 23, 2011. George Christofidis, President of the World Federation of Unesco Clubs, visited the city on that day. He also visited the Irbit Folk Life Museum. A lot has changed since then. Tourists have the opportunity to see expositions at three sites in nine museum halls.

The number of exhibits has reached more than 20,000. The museum houses the second largest private collection of samovars in Russia, all of which are heated by coals.

One unique exhibit mounted on a tricycle is a giant samovar with a volume of 415 liters. It has more than once been showcased at various events. In 2018, the largest samovar in Russia “worked” at the World Cup in Yekaterinburg. With it, a “motor” stove also “worked”, installed on a Ural motorcycle.

The hall of the Peasant Life of the 19th -20th Centuries presents a variety of tools, work instruments, and devices that helped to carry out an entire list of agricultural and construction works.

There are three thematically related expositions: Voguls (Mansi) and the wildlife around them, Archaeological Finds, and Fauna of the Irbit Territory in the Animal World of the Middle Urals.

In 2018, the museum opened a new exhibition called Irbit Churches – a reminder of the Irbit Fair and its wonderful churches that were destroyed or demolished in Soviet times. They are currently being restored.

The museum’s activities are also varied. In addition to sightseeing and thematic excursions, the museum hosts interactive programs, thematic master classes, city sightseeing tours, and various educational programs.

The site of the Tekhnika Museum includes household appliances and an exhibition of Soviet automotive equipment, including exhibits from the design bureau, moto-entertainment, customization, and motor sports.

The central theme of the Irbit motorcycle excursion is the Ural motorcycle. Visitors have the opportunity to see and ride a motor-carriage, a motor-steam engine, and other motorcycle models. You can take pictures with the most interesting exhibits in the background.

The museum regularly publishes books and brochures on museum exhibits and other local history topics.

Over the years, the museum has been visited by tourists from more than 40 countries near and far abroad including China, India, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Canada, France, Mali, and Iran.

Russians quite actively visit the museum. In books of reviews and suggestions, reviews have been recorded indicating a visit to the Irbit Folk Life Museum by residents of 55 subjects of the Russian Federation, from Kaliningrad and Murmansk to Kuban and Kamchatka.

The Irbit Folk Life Museum is also the Orbita travel agency, which organizes trips to the cities of Russia and to countries far and near abroad.

In 2019, an agreement was signed on the right to use the brand of the federal network of the Last Minute Vacation Store Chain LLC.

The Irbit Folk Life Museum actively participates in festivals, forums, trainings, and other museum events. One of the major events is the Irbit Fair.

For many years, the Irbit Folk Life Museum has been the City of Masters festival operator. Festival participants, as a rule, are masters from 20–25 subjects of the Russian Federation and 40–50 municipalities.