Archaeology & Ethnography Museum

Yakutsk


These two separately run museums are in the same building; sadly, neither enjoys the luxury of signage in English. On the bottom three floors you'll find one of the Far East’s better displays on indigenous peoples, while the 4th floor gives an overview of mammoths in Sakha. See if they’ll let you glimpse into the Mammoth Museum’s refrigerated storage room, which is chock full of mammoth and woolly rhino bones.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Yakutsk attractions

1. Mammoth Museum

Despite its rather exciting-sounding name, this one-room museum is rather a let-down due to its total lack of signage in English. On the plus side, there…

2. National Art Museum

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If time is limited, don't miss this excellent museum, with Sakha-themed exhibits covering local craftmaking traditions (mammoth tusk carvings, reindeer…

3. Lenin Statue

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Vlad Ilych still stands on Yakutsk's main square doing a particularly directional pose.

4. Transfiguration Church

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This mid-19th-century church with gorgeous golden domes in Yakutsk's old town is the city's most attractive.

5. Treasury of the Sakha Republic

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Pay a visit to this unique museum for a look at Yakutia's rich mineral wealth combined with fine craft traditions. You'll see exquisite carvings in…

6. Khomus Museum

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7. Pyotr Beketov Monument

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This rather brash gold-plated pillar in the old town honours Cossack explorer and founder of Yakutsk, Pyotr Beketov.

8. Yakutsk Regional History Museum

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A good place to delve deeper into Sakha culture, the Regional History Museum contains local minerals, information on the region’s first Russian settlers…