The Andrei Sakharov Museum and Public Center is both a cultural institution and a public organization promoting the formation of civil society in Russia. It was established by the Public Commission for the Preservation of the Heritage of Academician Sakharov - Andrei Sakharov Fund. The Museum and Public Center opened 21 May 1996, on the 75th anniversary of Sakharov's birth.

    Permanent exhibits, temporary exhibitions, the library, and museum collections are dedicated to three main issues:

    Totalitarian past

    Conditions of freedom - issues that currently face Russia

    Resistance to "unfreedom"

    The life and activities of Andrei Sakharov

    The Museum and Public Center often initiates and organizes discussions on urgent societal and political issues and grants, free of charge, its facilities for seminars, conferences and other public events to organizations whose goals do not contradict the mission of the Museum/Public Center.

    In 2000, The Museum and Public Center was granted the statite of an Autonomous Non-Commercial Organization. The organization is managed by a Board of Directors. Grants and donations are the principal sources of operational funding