The historical and archaeological museum-reserve "Upper Saltov" named after V.A. Babenko is located on the banks of the Pechenegsky reservoir of the Seversky Donets River in the village of Upper Saltov, Kharkiv region. In 1900, a local teacher, Vasily Alekseevich Babenko, conducted archaeological searches in the area of ​​the village, during which an Iron Age burial ground was found. Archaeological finds: jewelry, coins, weapon tips formed the basis of the museum, located in one of the rooms of the Zemstvo school. It also included items of an ethnographic nature, collected from the inhabitants of the village.
In the 20th century, several archaeological expeditions were carried out in the Upper Saltov region, as a result of which the ancient city of Sarada (VIII-X centuries) with an area of ​​120 hectares was excavated. In 1989, the Verkhny Saltov reserve was created here, which also included a museum with its archaeological, historical, ethnographic halls and the hall “Local History in Persons and Events”.