The Museum and Cultural Centre is a department of Novgorod Land State Art Culture Museum.
The museum is located between Russia’s two capitals: 600 km from Moscow (about 9 hours by car) and 260 km from St Petersburg (4 hours by car). It is located just 64 km to the southwest of Veliky Novgorod (1.5 hours by car), and 32 km from Staraya Russa (40 min). The museum is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Ilmen, 18 km from the village of Shimsk, the centre of the district.
The Museum and Cultural Centre’s landmarks include the En Route Palace, which was built for stopovers of imperial persons in the 19th century; its advantageous location was chosen by the architect. The building fits beautifully into the local picturesque landscape, whose panoramic views can be enjoyed from the museum balcony.
Currently, the museum has a permanent exhibition dedicated to local history as well as history of the peace treaty between Veliky Novgorod and Moscow, and an exhibition displaying clay toys of the Novgorod Region.
In the halls of the Museum and Cultural Centre, you can see works by Russian artists and photographers, an exclusive scale model of a unique geological monument, Ilmen Klint, which offers a magnificent view of Lake Ilmen and provides an insight into what this area looked like over 400 million years ago, due to the available geological imprints and traces of flora and fauna.
