The Argun House. The museum of copper and brass

The Argun House Museum of Copper and Brass is the first private museum in Kirzhach, Vladimir region. It was opened at the expense of the “Kirzhachskaya Printing House” enterprise and its general director, Evgeniy Fedorov, the winner of the Russian National award “Patron of the year, 2017” in the category “creating cultural infrastructure in the regions of Russia”. The main task of the museum is to reveal the role of copper, brass, and bronze in the life of mankind from ancient times to the present, including the influence of copper on human health.

The idea of creating a museum belonged to the employees of JSC “Kirzhachskaya Typography” and local historians from the Kirzhachsky district. The museum is located in the center of the city of Kirzhach, and was built in the style of the end of the 19th century.

However, the creation of the decor, related to the past, took more than two years. During the time of restoration, the museum’s collection was completed. Most of the exhibits were purchased, but some copies were donated by local residents.

The exhibition occupies 161 square meters and is located in several halls:

– the history of copper from ancient times (collection of minerals and native copper, a cannon from the 18th century, European casting);

– copper in everyday life and the value of copper in human life (various household items and Church utensils made from copper, brass and bell bronze);

– copper and brass production in the Pokrovsky district and the city of Kirzhach (products from the Kirzhach copper and brass factories of Shaposhnikov, Lyubimova and Zimin-Alenchikov, as well as, for comparison, from other factories of the Russian Empire (in Tula, Poland, etc.));

– hall for conducting master classes (the best samples of copper products with unique shapes);

– Kirzhach – a trade and tavern city (unique photos of Kirzhach, measures for fuel and lubricants, tavern measures, scales, Bezmen, etc.).

The museum staff conducts lectures on various local historical topics and provides sightseeing tours of the city for the guests and its residents.

The museum collects, preserves and exhibits native copper, minerals containing copper, household items made from copper and its alloys – bronze, brass, Melchior, French, Abyssinian, Northern gold, beryllium, and others. In addition, at this museum you can see clothing items containing copper threads, as well as copper, brass, and bronze objects of different groups of people in the world, and, of course, the products of the copper and brass factories of the Kirzhach district (of 18th-19th centuries), etc. In total, the museum’s collection includes more than 200 items.