The Artsakh State Historical Museum of Local Lore, dedicated to local folklore, was a museum in Stepanakert, Azerbaijan. Founded in founded in 1939. The museum presented the history of Artsakh from ancient times to the present and held 51,566 historical and cultural objects in its collections and exhibitions. Archaeological excavations in the region contributed to the formation and expansion of its collections.
According to the museum's documented exhibition layout, the exhibition halls began with models depicting the natural landscape of Artsakh. Further on, the archaeology section displayed fossilized specimens, early Stone Age tools, various bronze objects- including utensils, weapons, and ornaments - materials dating from the Urartian period, decorated ceramic vessels, and Armenian, Roman, Persian, and Arab coins.
When entering the hall of the Middle Ages, the section started off with a photo and map of the first churches in Artsakh (4th century): Amaras monastery, founded by Gregory the illuminator, the first Armenian Christian philosopher. There was also a documentary available at this part of the exhibit where evidence of his propagations in South Caucasus are presented. In the department of ethnography, the gallery began with the show-case of the Artsakhian family life. Here, there were images and a diorama of a grandmother knitting with distaff while the grandfather sews leather footwear. There was also an old carpet weaving loom and samples of Artsakh weaving art- carpets of 18-20 cc. In 19c. the center of the Armenian national culture was Shoushi city; of it the old gospel, printed books and photos tell.
The halls of modern history were rich in documentary artefacts where exhibits depicting the national liberation fight of Artsakhian Armenians against Azerbaijan in 1918–21 are shown. Here the map of Armenia of 1926 was presented, fulfilled on the basis of the union treaty of the 10th of August, 1920, as well as documents confirming the tragic events in Shoushi on the 23d of March, 1920, and describing about the forced annexation of Nagorno-Karabakh to the Soviet Azerbaijan.
The last halls of the museum detailed modern-life in Artsakh and the national-liberation war, and discussed themes of broader Armenian solidarity.
There was a small gift shop in the museum, where one can buy booklets, books and photo albums dedicated to Artsakh. The museum was open every day except Sundays.
The museum’s history, however, must now be understood in the context of the profound changes that followed the 2020 Artsakh War. After the 2020 ceasefire, the museum and its collections were located in territory that came under Azerbaijani control, raising serious concerns about the preservation and accessibility of its cultural holdings. The situation changed further in September 2023, when Stepanakert came under Azerbaijani control and the Armenian population of Artsakh was displaced. As a result, the museum can no longer be described simply as an operating cultural institution accessible to the public in the way documented in earlier accounts.
Recent heritage documentation continues to identify the Artsakh State Historical Museum of Local Lore as holding a collection of more than 50,000 historical and cultural objects. However, the current condition, location, accessibility, and future of these collections remain matters of concern. In this context, the museum has become part of the broader question surrounding the preservation of Armenian cultural heritage in Artsakh and the fate of cultural institutions whose collections remained in territory no longer under Armenian administration.
See also List of museums in Azerbaijan
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