The date of March 4, 2003 became a noteworthy mark in the history of our museum: an absolutely renewed exhibition was opened in Vladimir. After the restoration of the building of the museum, its first visitors were astonished by the originality and courage of the exhibition’s design and new unique exhibits on display. Rich in events history of the Vladimir region from the Paleolithic age to the February revolution of 1917 was revived in the renovated building.

The previous historical exhibition had existed for more than 20 years in Vladimir - for quite a long period according to the museum’s measurements. So this circumstance demanded not only a new explanation of numerous historical facts according to the latest achievements of contemporary science, but also a 'modernistic' artistic trim or a figurative language. Elements of theatricalization and imagery were widely used in the artistic approach to the exhibition’s design. Museum’s researchers had to make a logical and correct choice of the material - archeological finds, chronicles, artistic rarities - so as to make history speak.

The history of the Vladimir region begins from the Paleolithic site of Sungir discovered near Vladimir in 1956. The archaeological site of Sungir is a pride of Russian science. Unique burials of ancient people, 76 thousand of archaeological items were discovered in the place of the encampment of Homo Sungirensis (as archaeologists called the people at the Sungir site); all these things give us a chance to get to know about our ancestors' life 30 thousand years ago. On the ground floor, in the hall devoted to the earliest period of history - where the collection of Sungir’s items, portraits of ancient people reconstructed by anthropologists, replicas of ancient clothing and authentic tools are exhibited - it is possible to speak not only about man's struggle against Nature but also about self-consciousness, which originated in our ancestors, about their first attempts to learn the environment, to express their creative attitude to life. A denial of the traditional rectangular form of the hall became an artistic find. Nothing but a sphere, an ellipse could create an image of the cosmos, the egg giving birth to all alive.

A vast period of time, significant historical boundary-marks, epochal events, symbolic occurrences and historical cult-figures… How is it possible to speak of all that with the help of not only items of material culture, but through the language of plastic art and visual images? And then ordinary (as one would think) mirrors helped the creators of this exhibition. Situated in the corners, on the slant to each other, the mirrors made a miracle of the "broken space". A pagan ritual place, a crystal ice-hole with illuminated water as if "overflowing" on us from behind the mirrors being reflected many times and that's why seeming so volumetric. By the way, fragments of ice and the cross-like ice-hole - a symbol of the first baptism - were made by masters from the Gus-Khrustalny glassworks.

In the third corner, there is a composition dedicated to Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky, the founder of the Vladimir Principality. A recreated white-stone spiral staircase of the palace at Bogolyubovo is a symbol of a human being's ascending to Our Lord. Broken down steps remind us of the tragic death of Prince Andrei, the Russian autocrat and saint. For 35 years Prince Vsevolod the Big Nest, "a lord of the northern lands", was reigning over the Vladimir land. A copy of a bas-relief with his image from the northern wall of the St. Demetrius Cathedral is in the fourth corner of the hall. "The History" - which is contained in the hall’s square and turned into a spiral - prepares emergence of a Temple in the world. That's why the Temple, a symbol of the perfect creation of mankind, is in the center of the hall. There is an original white-stone cross of the 12th century, pictures of the two main sacred possessions of the Vladimir Principality - the delineation of the icons of the Holy Virgin of Vladimir and of the Holy Virgin of Bogolyubovo are on the glass holds, reproducing contours of a church facade. The Stone and the Temple are not just illustrations of the history but the main accents of the exhibition, whose core and essence is the ascension from the Earth into the Heaven.

Visitors of the History Museum are deeply impressed by the scenes of the Tartars’ assault at Vladimir in 1238: the death of a woman who was trying to save all her possessions (even if in vain) such as golden crosses, jewelry, icons trimmed with enamel, folding icons. These priceless things were found by archaeologists in 1993 and now are exhibited in Vladimir. Some other of the Vladimir treasures shine in the museums of Moscow.

The decoration of the first floor of the exhibition is more traditional, but is distinguished by its charm and refinement. The very atmosphere of the first floor was changed: it became bright and merry. Old stands that blocked up the windows and old ponderous showcases were dismantled. Original paintings on the vault with their bright floral design and medallions depicting the princes - Vladimir Monomakh, Andrei Bogolyubsky, Vsevolod the Big Nest and Alexander Nevsky - were restored. The new parquet floor shines. Chandeliers and lamps on the floor stylized in the antique way are in harmony with the interior.

Hundreds of various exhibits are in the showcases and stands now. The history of the Vladimir land from the early 17th to the early 20th century presents itself with the help of manuscripts, books, pictures, arms and armors, decorations, coins, photos, samples of industrial production, articles of everyday life. When the museum was opened in 1906 it had 897 items on display, today it has about 1500 exhibits only at the first floor.

New themes appeared, our regional history now is more closely connected with the history of Russia. A part of the exhibition displaying the events of the Time of Troubles in the early 17th century is represented more completely than ever. There is a rare icon depicting the murder of the little Prince Dmitry in Uglich and presented for the first time a copy of the Grant of False Dmitry I to the Savior and St. Euphemius Monastery in Suzdal. A unique exhibit is a sacred chasuble sewn of the velvet coat of Prince Dmitry Pozharsky.

A part of the exhibition telling the visitors about the epoch of Peter the Great was enriched with some new materials about Peter's companions whose lives were connected with our land. A rare secular portrait of Peter's first wife Yevdokia Lopukhina (exiled to the Convent of the Intercession in Suzdal) is exhibited here. One can easily comprehend the advantages and consequences of the monetary reform inspired by Emperor Peter I, by comparing the new money (that sprang up during his reign) with the silver coins (that looked like fish scale) of the epoch before Peter or with Dutch thalers that were used as a model during the monetary reform. For the first time materials about our compatriot, the discoverer of the Antarctic Continent, admiral M. Lazarev are represented as a detached theme, including a model of the Mirny boat and a sextant of the early 20th century. The period of reign of Emperor Alexander II, the Liberator, and the reforms of the 60-70s of the 19th century (abolishment of serfdom, judicial reform, etc.) are interpreted in more detailed review.

God deprived the Vladimir folks neither of talent nor skill. The heyday of the regional history, the late 19th - early 20th century, astounds us by numerous multicolored cloths made at the local textile works, splendid glass and porcelain from the famous works belonged to Yu. Nechaev-Maltsov and M. Kuznetsov, variety of things made of non-ferrous metals from the works of A. Kolchugin, the icons from Mstera. A special place belongs to the materials about the local historian, publisher and outstanding artist I. Golyshev.

Materials on the 9th Siberian and the 10th Ukranian grenadier regiments, sent off to the front of the First World War; materials on the widely celebrated anniversaries, such as: the 50th Anniversary of abolishment of serfdom; the 100th Anniversary of the Patriotic War of 1812 and the 300th Anniversary of the Romanovs' dynasty - are also represented. Here one can see a portrait of the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II, an announcement of his coronation, materials on his visit to Vladimir and Suzdal in 1913. A little iron trunk (containing silver coins and tableware, which was buried on the troubled days of the revolution by a Suzdalian merchant Zhilin) turns into an interesting exhibit of the museum. It was found by chance at the site of the former Zhilin's house in 1983.

Everyone will take interest in this renovated exhibition - a tourist, a citizen of the town; schoolchildren and students can learn better both the history of their region and the history of Russia. This museum can be compared to a time-machine, and everyone can have an amazing trip to different ages, be a witness to a lot of events and see many people who glorified the Vladimir land. There are, for example, an autograph of A. Suvorov; a saltcellar made according to the technology suggested by D. Vinogradov, the inventor of Russian porcelain and a native of Suzdal; a letter written by an outstanding Russian statesman M. Speransky; a portrait of the composer S. Taneyev. There's a part of the museum dedicated to our famous compatriots and called: “Worthy to Be Praised by Descendants”.

The museum gives an opportunity to learn something new about our history and to see items of material and spiritual culture from different periods in the history of Russia.