The Kherson Regional Museum of Local Lore was founded in 1890 by a well-known public figure, archaeologist and local historian V.I. Goshkevich. The museum is a complex of natural history, historical, literary and ethnographic trends, with expositions located in three buildings in the historical center of Kherson and in the Kakhovka branch.
About 173,000 exhibits are stored in the museum's funds: a unique archaeological collection, some items date back to the 7th millennium BC. e.; a collection of ancient coins of the states of the Northern Black Sea region; treasures from Scythian burial mounds; a collection of weapons from the 16th-20th centuries; collection of antique furniture. A special exposition is dedicated to the founding of Kherson and political and military figures of that era: Prince G. A. Potemkin, commander A. V. Suvorov, Admiral F. F. Ushakov.
The literary section presents old printed publications, graphic and pictorial works, manuscripts, household items and personal belongings of A.S. Pushkin, L.N. Tolstoy, David Burliuk and other famous poets and writers.
The basis of the museum's botanical collection is the herbarium collected in the Kherson province by the outstanding botanist and entomologist Josif Pachosky. Here you can see the 30-meter blue whale skeleton.