The Sochi Art Museum was opened in 1971, with its building considered the city-forming element and its main architectural monument of the 1930s. The monumental building was designed by architect I.V. Zholtovsky. Prior to the museum opening, the building housed the City Committee of the Communist Party.
Presently the museum displays all the famous genres of fine art. Here you can see antique silver and edged weapons of the 1st century BC, ancient Russian icons of the 18^th – 20^th centuries, a collection of graphic art, as well as arts and crafts. The main treasure of the museum is its collection of paintings, one of the richest ones in Russia.
Researchers and guides of the museum conduct excursions, lectures, vernissages and meet-the-artist events here.

The Sochi Art Museum exhibits about 10 permanent and temporary expositions, which enjoy popularity among the residents and visitors of the resort city of Sochi.
Three permanent exhibitions are most noteworthy:
“Russian Art of the 19th-21st Centuries” (painting, sculpture, and graphic art);
Decorative and Applied Art of Russia of the 20^th Century;
“Megaproject. Olympic Sochi Layout” with layout projects of Sochi, the capital of the 2014 Olympic Games.



Exhibition "Russian Art of the XIX-XXI Centuries"
This permanent exhibition is rightfully considered the pride of the Sochi Art Museum. In this rich collection of paintings by Russian artists you can find
Aivazovsky, Klodt, Waelz, Shishkin, Zarubin and many other famous artists of the last and before last centuries.
The collection is constantly updated with new paintings. Some paintings were given away to the museum by sanatoriums and hospitals of Sochi, and some were donated by patrons of art. Several paintings were provided by the Moscow Culture Department.
The gallery pleases with a variety of styles and genres, but the main pride of the collection is classical painting of the second half of the 19^th century.



Exhibition "Antique Silver and Cold Steel Arms" These items of luxury BC were unearthed found in the area of River Mzymta.
The Mzymta treasure, as it is named by museum staff, consists of several dozen household items and cold steel arms. All the exhibits relate to the decline of Hellenic civilization and the beginning of the power of the Roman Empire. The treasure is amazingly enormous, with all of its parts found in the same area. There is something to admire - patterned goblets, silver plates, and elegant spoons. The pride of the collection is unique phial bowls. One of them is decorated with a butterfly symbolizing Persifon, the other depicts grapevines, and the third one shows a female figure and Eros.



Exhibition "Graphic Art of the XIX-XXI Centuries"
Trace the history of easel graphic art from past centuries to our contemporaries.
The earliest artworks belong to Stepan Galaktionov. In the central part of the exhibition is the "Portrait of a Woman" by Valentin Serov and the "Sitting Nude" by Boris Kustodiev. The museum also boasts a collection of bright graphic art by Mikhail Ksenofontov and Alexander Deineka. The exposition is constantly updated with drawings by our contemporaries.
  
Where: the Sochi Art Museum at the address 51, Kurortny Avenue, Sochi.
Open hours: from 10 am to 5 pm on Tue – Sun.