House Museum of Yemelyan Pugachev

In the ancient city of Uralsk West Kazakhstan region among the architecture of the late 18th century that has survived to our time, there is a house where the famous national rebel Emelyan Pugachev once stayed. In this house he married and proclaimed himself the new king.

It is known from history that in 1773 the fugitive rebel Emelyan Pugachev arrived on the Yaik River and called himself the new tsar. The original toponyms - the Yaik River and the settlement of Yaitsky town, after the suppression of the Pugachev uprising by Empress Catherine II, were renamed the Ural River and the city of Uralsk.

The House-Museum of Emelyan Pugachev was founded in 1991 as a branch of the West Kazakhstan Regional Museum of History and Local Lore. And although Pugachev lived in this house for no more than three months, many personal belongings and objects of the rebel were preserved here, as well as the interior furnishings of merchants and Cossacks of former times.

Moreover, the history of this house is connected with the names of other cultural figures. A.S. Pushkin, V. Dal and V. Korolenko were here.

Among the exhibits of the museum there are: a sword with a name inscription, presented by Catherine II to the French general Ansen de Zhebaro, and leather gloves embroidered with gold, also granted by the Empress to Ataman Borodin. The first received a gift for his help in suppressing the Pugachev uprising, the second - for escorting the already captive rebel to execution in Moscow.

The strongest impression on museum visitors can be made by the model of the iron cage in which Pugachev was taken to his execution. Its original is kept in the State Historical Museum in Moscow. The portrait of Yemelyan Pugachev, painted by an unknown artist, is also unusual. During the restoration of the portrait, an image of Empress Catherine II was discovered under it, and now, if you look closely at it, you can see how the features of the empress are guessed above Pugachev.

The house itself was built in the middle of the 18th century by the Cossack Pyotr Kuznetsov, and in 2004 the building was restored, the bottom was lined with red brick, and the log walls were covered with a special solution that protects the wood from decay. The restorers made a new porch and reproduced a real Cossack farmstead - with a stable, a well, a cellar, a summer kitchen, fishing gear and other attributes of Cossack life.

The building is the only existing museum of Pugachev and is recognized as an architectural monument of republican significance.

Useful tips for 2021-2022

How to get there?

Address of the Emelyan Pugachev Museum: Dostyk street, 35. The museum is located at the very beginning of the old part of Uralsk, at the corner of Dostyk and Stremnaya streets. The easiest way to get here is by city buses going to Pugachev Square, from which the walk to the museum is about a kilometer.

Meals and accommodation

Uralsk is a large administrative center of Western Kazakhstan. Rich in its history and sights, it also has a sufficient number of hotels and motels for every taste. It is also easy to find hostels and apartments for rent in the city, and cafes and restaurants offer a wide variety of cuisine - from Kazakh national to Russian merchant and Cossack.