| Sakhalin Regional Museum of Local Lore | |
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Сахалинский областной краеведческий музей | |
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 Interactive map of Sakhalin Regional Museum of Local Lore | |
| General information | |
| Location | 29 Kommunisticheskiy prospekt,Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk,Sakhalin Oblast,Russia |
| Coordinates | 46°57′32″N142°44′40″E / 46.9590°N 142.7444°E /46.9590; 142.7444 |
| Opened | 1937 |
| Website | |
| Official website | |
TheSakhalin Regional Museum (Russian:Сахалинский областной краеведческий музей) is amuseum inYuzhno-Sakhalinsk on the Russian island ofSakhalin. It is the largest museum in theSakhalin Oblast.[1] The Museum collects, researches, and displays materials relating to the natural history, archaeology, history, and ethnography of the region.[1][2][3]
The first museum onSakhalin opened in what was then the military post ofAlexandrovsk in North Sakhalin in 1896.[2][3] A number of exhibits disappeared when the area was in Japanese hands,in 1905 and againbetween 1920 and 1925.[3] The museum reopened in 1932.[3] Meanwhile, in South Sakhalin, in the years when, asKarafuto Prefecture, it formed part of theEmpire of Japan, the official residence of the garrison commander initially served for the Karafuto Agency Museum (樺太庁博物館), a situation that lasted until 1935, when the building was repurposed for the Toyohara Military Police.[4]: 138 [5]: 82
Construction work on a new, dedicated museum building began in July 1935 and continued for two years, until July 1937;[6]: 2 related documentation from the 1935fiscal year is preserved in theArchives of Hokkaido [ja].[4]: 155 For the site, land belonging toKarafuto Jinja was used; aButokuden [ja] or martial arts facility was also built nearby in Japanese-style.[4]: 154 In 1937, the Karafuto Agency Museum reopened to the public in what was then the city ofToyohara[ja], nowYuzhno-Sakhalinsk, with displays organized around the three themes of nature, culture, and industry.[2][6]: 3
After theSoviet invasion of South Sakhalin in August 1945, the Museum changed hands, reopening to the public the following May; for a period, until their repatriation, Japanese staff continued to work alongside their Soviet colleagues.[3] In 1953, the Museum inAlexandrovsk-Sakhalinsky closed and its collections were transferred to the Sakhalin Regional Museum.[3] In 1970, the Museum staged an exhibition of paintings from theTretyakov Gallery.[3] In the 1980s and 1990s, artworks from the Museum were transferred to and formed the basis of the collection of the newSakhalin Regional Art Museum [ru], assistance was provided in the establishment of theChekhov Museum (Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk) [ru], and several branch museums were created in otherdistricts of Sakhalin Oblast.[3] (By 2000, there were seven such branch museums; in 2001 these were reestablished as independent museums in their own right.[3]) Since 1990, the Museum has maintained relations withHokkaido Museum (and its predecessor institution the Historical Museum of Hokkaido) inSapporo, Japan, including joint research and staff exchanges.[1]
TheNihon-shumi (日本趣味) orJaponaiserie-style[4]: 153 museum building, ofreinforced concrete with a tiled roof, is in theImperial Crown Style,[5]: 85 to plans by Kaizuka Yoshio (貝塚良雄) (1900–1974), who sought to combine elements ofJapanese castle design with elements of western design.[5]: 83 The building has a marked horizontal emphasis, thetenshu-like components provide a strong central accent and give an impression of ascent, while staggered roofs add variety to enliven thefaçade.[5]: 83 While the lower tiers are more western in their inspiration, the cut stone is reminiscent of castle walls, and the white plaster of the upper tiers andonigawara and other decorative features such are thoroughly Japanese.[5]: 83–4 Inside,skylights brighten the upper exhibition spaces with natural light, while cloth wallpaper once softened the acoustic.[4]: 155 [5]: 84 From 2005, restoration and repair work was carried out on the building.[5]: 85
The permanent display is organized around six main themes: thegeology of Sakhalin and theKuril Islands; theirflora and fauna; "ancient cultures and indigenous peoples";discovery and exploration (from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries); "the period ofhard labour"; and the first half of the twentieth century.[7] Leading figures documented includeGennady Ivanovich Nevelskoy,Mogami Tokunai,Mamiya Rinzō,Matsuura Takeshirō,Bronisław Piłsudski,[8] andIgor Farkhutdinov, and thelocal oil and gas industry is also introduced.[1][2]
The collection includes replicas of local fossil finds, ofNipponosaurus sachalinensis andDesmostylus hesperus;[2][7] taxidermied representatives of species featured in theRed Data Book ofSakhalin Oblast;[7][9][10] materials relating to theAinu,Nivkh, andUilta;[7] and one of the four main boundary markers placed in 1906 along the50th parallel at the time of thedemarcation of the Sakhalin frontier following theTreaty of Portsmouth that brought theRusso-Japanese War to its close.[2][11]
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