In Bessonovka, the golden onion takes you right into the cultural history of Bessonovsky District. The Onion Museum is dedicated to the district’s golden onion and covers the history of collective and state farms, onion cultivation and onion growers. It also explores the onion’s use in medicine and cooking, its place in folklore, and scientific topics and innovations in cultivation. In this way, the museum connects agriculture with culinary knowledge, folklore and research topics.
It opened in 2013 to mark the village’s 350th anniversary. It is described as Russia’s first museum whose entire exhibition is dedicated to the golden onion. The onion is considered the district’s best-known vegetable and a source of pride for local agriculture. Check the current visiting arrangements before your visit.
Museums between village life and history
The Bessonovsky District Local History Museum was founded on October 1, 2005. It preserves historical materials about Yemelyan Pugachev’s uprising and tells the story of archaeological finds in the district. Its collection includes lacework made on traditional bobbin-lace pillows, felt boots from Chemodanovka, where they have been made for more than 300 years, and clay toys by master Vasily Kucher of Poleologovo. The collection thus brings together objects from crafts and everyday life with historical and archaeological topics.
The collection also includes a copy of the manifesto “To the Residents of Penza and Penza Province.” The manifesto is dated July 31, 1774, and was written in Ukhtinka. For visitors interested in history, this document complements the materials on the uprising with a specific written record from 1774.
In Kizhevatovo, the museum named after A. M. Kizhevatov has two halls. One is dedicated to the traditions and everyday life of the villagers; the other covers the Second World War and Andrey Mitrofanovich Kizhevatov, a Hero of the Soviet Union. The “Mordvin Room” adds another cultural focus, offering an introduction to the culture and traditions of the Mordvin people.
Estates and historic parks
In Grabovo, Alexander Mikhailovich Ustinov had the mansion of the Ustinov estate built in the second half of the 19th century. He surrounded it with an artfully laid-out park that included a cascade of ponds descending in an amphitheatrical arrangement. The estate dates from the late 19th to the early 20th century; surviving features include outbuildings and an old park on the shore of a lake. The estate now houses a social care facility, so check in advance whether a visit is possible.
In Prokazna, the Arapov family estate complex represents another aspect of regional history: it is a regional cultural heritage site dating from the 19th century. Together with the Ustinov estate in Grabovo, it extends the focus beyond museum collections to the history of estates and parks in Bessonovsky District.
Discover more destinations: Mokshansky District, Mokshansky District, Penzenskiy District, Penza.
Go to the regional travel overview: Penza Oblast.
