Berestse Archaeological Museum

The branch "Archeological Museum „Berestye“" is the only museum of medieval eastern Slavic town in Europe. It was founded in Brest in 1972 and opened to the public on March 2, 1982. The museum is located on the territory of the Volyn fortification of the Brest Fortress, on the site of the ancient Berestye settlement, founded by Dregovichi. In 1969-1981 the archaeologists of the Institute of History of the BSSR Academy of Sciences, headed by Doctor of History P. F. Lysenko, conducted excavations there. The high concentration of well-preserved constructions on the relatively small territory allowed to create the unique museum. Numerous archeological finds of the XI-XIV centuries gave an idea of the economic and cultural life of the ancient town and the lives of its inhabitants. The basis of the museum exposition is an archeological dig. At a depth of 4 meters there is a part of handicraft quarter — 28 wooden dwelling and outbuildings of XIII century, two street bridges, paling, remains of mud-brick ovens. The archeological collection of Berestye consists of more than 43 thousand objects. Unique finds are chess piece of king and boxwood comb with carved 13 letters of Cyrillic, which was given the status of historical and cultural value category "1".

The museum conducts active work with visitors, including online (interactives, drawings, contests). One of the latest innovations was the appearance of a thematic tour of the territory adjacent to the museum. There are materials about the planning and development of Berestye and evolution of Berestye castle.

During its operation, the museum was visited by about 4 million people from 37 countries of the world (2019).