Information about the museum building. The museum is located in the old part of the city of Lysychansk, on the slope of the watershed area, next to the Lysiacha Balka gully, which descends in the southeast direction to the bed of the Siverskyi Donets River. The building that houses the museum has a long history. Data regarding the time of its construction vary. One of the sources indicates the year 18341, whereas the other says it was built in 18422. The records on the building, compiled by N. Kireieva, indicate³ that it dates back to the early 19th century, and that the steiger (mining foreman) school began operating here in 1873 (or, according to Wikipedia, in 1872). As per the information provided by N. Kireieva, at the time of writing the certificate (1995), the building housed a museum of local lore and a vocational school. The premises are built of natural stone on a stone foundation. Slopes, arches and window frames are made of brick. “The building is a unique typological monument of architecture of the classicism period and is historically valuable.”

The museum was subordinate to Lysychansk Coal PJSC, which in 1995, to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the beginning of coal mining, decided to set up a museum, thus supporting numerous requests by local activists and local lore experts⁴. 250 meters to the southeast of the museum, next to the Lysiacha Balka gully, there is a memorial sign at the place where the first mine in Donbas was built.

Until 2014, museum workers conducted scientific research work on the history of Lysychansk and Donbas, replenished the exposition, organized meetings with renowned people from Lysychansk, and held scientific and practical conferences on the history of Donbas.

Museum exposition and exhibits. The museum has five exhibition halls, whose expositions are dedicated to:

• geology of Donbas;
• history of the country’s coal industry;
• mechanization of coal mining and mine working;
• daily life of miners in the 19th and 20th centuries;
• minerals¹.

The museum’s unique exhibits comprise:

1) geological collection of minerals of Europe and Asia, including a mineral called gritstone from the Antarctic;

2) a hammer of primitive man, made 40–50,000 years ago;

3) miner's lamp “Godspeed” from the 19th century;

4) household items of miners from the 19th century.

The collection also features materials about miners who worked in local mines – heroes of Socialist Labor I. Ivonin, F. Kapust, I. Pobok, famous engineers and pedagogues N. Lopatin, P. Mordvynov, H. Kopiiko. These materials are grouped in exhibitions dedicated to the centenaries since their birth¹.

Three stone statues of late nomads were located in a small park near the museum. Two statues belong to monuments of cultural heritage of local importance (under numbers 382 and 383). Interestingly, the latest of the statues was installed there on the eve of the full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war. A resident of Zolote town purchased the manor and discovered the stone statue in its territory, which he then decided to bring to the museum at his own expense⁵.

Events of 2022. During hostilities in Lysychansk, the museum building was damaged: the roof and facade were damaged, and the windows were broken. As of late June 2022, the sculptures were still there: they had not been moved to a safe place and no attempts were made even to protect them from projectiles. As of now, there is no information about the condition of the museum or the three ancient sculptures. There is a serious threat of illegal removal of both museum exhibits and medieval statues.