On December 15 (28) 1913, an important event took place in the cultural life of Nikolaev — the city natural and historical museum was opened. The basis of his collection was the unique natural history collection of E.P. Frantsov, donated to the city by his heirs. It featured samples of minerals, stuffed birds, fish, animals, corals, sponges, herbaria of tropical plants and many other interesting things. b_300_0_16777215_00_images_promuzey_1.jpg The process of creating the city museum was taken care of by a commission, which included deputies of the local Duma headed by a lawyer, an amateur archaeologist .I. Haiduchenko. The museum is located in a rented house on the street. Malyi Morskaya, 11 (the corner of ul. The Great Sea). The townspeople looked at the first exposition with enthusiasm, many of them responded to the proposal of S.I. Gaiduchenko to contribute to the replenishment of the historical collection of the new museum. In the first years of its existence, the museum collection was replenished with numerous gifts — archaeological finds from Olbia, ethnographic materials, household items of urban residents, samples of cold and firearms, documents, photographs, models of ships. In June 1918, the collection of the military museum of the 58th Prague Infantry Regiment entered the stock deposits.Despite the tumultuous events of the Revolution and the Civil War, the museum not only kept its exhibits, but continued to be replenished with new arrivals. Over time, a small room could no longer accommodate the entire collection, so two museums were created on its basis - historical, archaeological and natural.