The Art Museum displays a lot of fussy decorative arts but the rectilinear 1862 building is a historical curiosity in itself. It was built as the Siberian governor’s mansion and hosted passing tsars: note the original Kalmykian throne with its ebony elephant armrests and 7kg of beaten silver. In 1918–19, however, the building was home to Admiral Kolchak’s counter-revolutionary government and was the heart of White Russia before the Reds eventually claimed the city.
The diverse collection contains some impressive icons, glass work and folk art.
