Mordovian History Museum

Mordovian History Museum is a regional museum in Saransk with exhibition spaces spread across multiple floors. The building houses ethnographic collections about local culture alongside natural history specimens including fossils and prehistoric remains.

The museum was established in 1918 and originally occupied the Church of the Three Saints before moving to its current Saranskaya Street location in 2017. This relocation allowed for expanded exhibition space and improved presentation of the collections.

The ethnographic section displays thousands of items from Mordvin daily life, including traditional clothing, jewelry, household objects, and folk art pieces. These objects show how local people lived and practiced their crafts across generations.

The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday and visitors can explore multiple floors with different collections. Those who do not speak Russian should note that guided tours are primarily offered in the local language.

The natural history section displays a remarkable collection of fossils, including mammoth tusks and bones from extinct rhinoceros species along with a complete cave bear skeleton. These finds reveal what prehistoric animals once roamed this region.