One of the best regional art museums in Russia, the Arkhangelsk Regional Museum of Fine Arts was created in 1960 when an art collection was allocated from the funds of the Arkhangelsk Regional Museum. Today it is home to more than 30 thousand works of national art, including about 5 thousand icons mostly painted by northern artists (“northern paintings”). The museum holds the best collection of contemporary Kholmogory bone carving in Russia.
      In 1994 the museum received several buildings of 18-19^th centuries situated in the historical part of the city. The State Museum Association “Art Culture of the Russian North” was created based on these architectural monuments and collections. The association is broken into  five branches: the Museum of Fine Arts, the Stepan Pisakhov Museum, the A.A. Borisov Museum of Artistic Development of the Arctic, an antique private residence on the embankment, and the E.K. Plotnikova House. 

More info: www.arhmuseum.ru