The museum was established in 1972. This project had been put forward by the group of citizens and supported by the town council.

    The museum, located in the town with 70,000 population, receives about 6 - 7 thousands visitors annually. They are not the citizens only, people from the United States, Germany, Poland, Chine, Japan, India, from almost all of the former Soviet Union countries and the regions of Russia have visited the museum.

    More than 6,000 exhibits and 20 thematic tours and lectures help a visitor to have a close detailed look at the history, culture, the environment of the town and its neighborhood area from ancient epoch to the present.

    А piece of mammoth's tusk, a fossil bull's cranium, Neanderthal primitive instruments and some other interesting traces of the prehistoric era are exhibited in the museum.

    The locality Ancient history is illustrated by a collection of archeological finds, such as swords, arrow-heads, ear-rings and necklaces that belong to Scythian and other nomadic tribes. Some of those finds have been taken to the famous Hermitage Museum in Sent-Petersburg for its permanent exhibition.

    The diorama - model of the Beloyarsk fortress is а remarkable point of the museum exposition. This small fortress built in 1717 was the first Russian settlement at the town's modern territory. So, fifty soldiers of its garrison and ten farmer families scattered around could be considered as real founders of the town.

    Original specimens of clothes, household goods, farm implements found by the museum staff or brought by the citizens demonstrate the common people way of life at this part of Western Siberia in XIX century. One of the museum nooks is occupied by the replica of interior of typical farmer's house (izba).

    The World War II is one of the most significant Russian history events in XX century. And so the museum makes a special emphasis on that period. Military uniform items presented by that war veterans, original private letters sent from the frontline to the town and back, the local and central newspapers and magazines with news on the defeats and the victories, discharged examples of shells, mortar and air bombs produced by the local factory and a lot of other things keep a memory of that tragic and heroic era.

    A number of stuffed animals, birds, fishes and various herbariums made by local non-professional hunters, fishers and naturalists represent flora and fauna in the neighborhood area.

    But one "exhibit" of the collection does not stay inside the museum hall. It is a cargo ship named "Novoaltaysk". The ship has served at Baltic Sea and Atlantic lines since 1968. So its place in the museum is substituted by the scaled model and exotic souvenirs from the different parts of world presented by the crew