The history of the town of Luga
The Luga Museum

The Luga River was one of the waterways connecting Il'men Lake with the Gulf of Finland that was used by the Novgorodians. In the 11th-15th centuries the lands of the Luga basin were part of the Great Novogorod State.

The Lusky Yam settlement was first mentioned in the Novgorodian chronicles of 1383. In 1777 the town of Luga was arranged here by appointment of Catherine II.

First three stone constructions - a church, post office and treasury were erected here in the late 18th century. One of them - the church - survived to our days. The building of the modern post office replaced another one where Aleksandr Pushkin used to stay on his way from St.Petersburg to Mikhailovskoye. Luga was mentioned in one of his poems of 1817.

During World War I when Luga was a rare reserve center for the Russian North-Western Front, local garrison (more than 20 ths. people) exceeded civilian population of the town.

The town and its neighbourhood became a battle field of the Red and White Armies during Civil War which broke out after the Great October socialist revolution.

In the period of Great Patriotic War the Luzhsky defensive line 300 km long ran here. It played an important role in the battles for Leningrad and stopped the Germans, foiling the Hitler's plans of rapid seizure of Leningrad. When the front finally came nearer to Leningrad, the Luga lands turned out to be the enemy's rare and massive partisan movement deployed here.
Luga of our days is an industrial town, with an abrasive factory and Belkozin plant being the major enterprises. Luga neighbourhood, though, due to its scenery woods and rivers and special climatic regime, is by right considered a resort area, being called northern Crimea. Sanatoria, children's camps, motels and campsites are located here.

The museum features the history of the town of Luga and lands of the Upper Luga presenting finds of archeological excavations of primitive sites, photographs, books, paintings and prints, objects of numismatic and ethnographic collections.

The "The Luga Lands in the Middle Ages" section tells about Gorodets - a fortification on the western borders of the Novgorod State that, according to the excavations of 1970, existed in the 10th-13th centuries and was demolished in the devastating fire of the 13th century. A scale model of the Gorodets fortress is on display.

One of the exhibit sections is devoted to prominent scientists, politicians and people of art who lived in Luga and environs. The figures of Major-General D.Lyalin, a hero of Patriotic War of 1812, A.Polovtsev, the Secretary of State Council, are among them. Famous writers Nikolai Nekrasov and Ivan Turgenev visited the village of Os'mino, Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin lived in the Zatish'e estate not far from the village of Tolmachevo. Artists Ivan Shishkin and Ivan Kramskoy spent summers in the estate close to the Serebryanka station.

The "Nature of the Luga lands" exhibit showing geology, flora and fauna of the area imparts a special colouring to the museum display.

The ethnographic collection focuses on the household articles, artifacts of family life and women's dresses of the 19th-20th centuries. One of the exhibit sections recreates a living room interior.

The central section of the museum is dedicated to 45-days defense of Luga and Leningrad at the Luzhsky defensive line, and to the partisan movement during Great Patriotic War. A marble bust to I.Dmitriev, the leader of partisans (sculptor V.Gordon), and the portrait gallery of the Heroes are among the special items of the exhibit. In 1977 the town of Luga was awarded the 1-st degree Order of Patriotic War.

In 1995 the museum exhibit of the Soviet history was rearranged. In 2000 the "Industry and Agriculture in the Town and District" exhibit was opened to display the samples of local produce.