Vitebsk regional local history Museum was opened in the hall of Vitebsk. The beginning of the Museum collection was started in 1868. Then there was opened the first in Vitebsk Museum in the provincial statistical Committee.

In 1918, collection of A. R. Brody marked the beginning of the Vitebsk provincial Museum. On the establishment of the Museum was also issued decree No. 3407 provincial education Department. Brody, who gave his collection to the Museum, became the first Director of the provincial Museum. The exhibition is housed in a former residential building Basilian monastery. Even then, there were more than 10 thousand exhibits.

November 4, 1924, the Museum, the town hall, was appointed the new Director of I. I. Vasiljevic and the Museum was renamed the Belarusian state Museum. April 27, 1927 opened a new exposition, which occupied three floors of city hall. The Museum had 30 thousand exhibits.

In 1929, the Museum collection was replenished Ural gems, French engravings, porcelain from around the world, the best paintings by Belarusian artists. However, in 1930, all the Museum staff have been dismissed for low ideological level of outreach. From that day on all original paintings have been replaced with reproductions and photographs, and the Museum has a large number of Communist propaganda in the form of posters. The Museum received the name of socio-historical and told the story of his native land from the point of view of socialist ideology.

During the great Patriotic war the Museum was lucky – his funds had to be evacuated to the rear in Saratov. During the war, were collected many exhibits illustrating the feat of the Belarusian people during the Nazi occupation. Immediately after the war was opened an exhibition devoted to the war years.

Now the Vitebsk regional local history Museum has interesting collections: archaeological, military (great Patriotic war) and natural.