The process of creating a museum of the history of local self-government on the basis of the Dnipropetrovsk Historical Museum named after D. I. Yavornytskyi has the goal of reconstructing the history of self-government of our region from the Middle Ages to the present day. This will contribute to the use and dissemination of the acquired and generalized experience of the work of local self-government. In order to realize the idea of building any exposition, it is necessary to carry out a whole series of works: to conduct scientific research, to search for exhibits, to implement an artistic project, and, finally, to organize effective scientific and educational work of the museum itself, which must fully live. Therefore, as the first step on the way to creating a museum, in 2006 an exhibition dedicated to the history of the building of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Council, where the new museum will be located, was presented.
The history of this building begins at the beginning of the 20th century. The first premises of the Katerynoslav Commercial School, opened in 1901, could not accommodate a large number of students within its walls, therefore, at the request of the Board of Trustees of the school, the City Duma allocated a plot of land for the construction of a new school building. Thanks to the initiative of the mayor, the chairman of the Board of Trustees – O. Ya. Tolstikov, funds were collected and the construction of a new permanent building for the educational institution began, which was solemnly inaugurated
was founded on July 23, 1904, and on September 9, 1905, educational classes began in it. Built according to the project of the talented Katerynoslav architect D. S. Skorobogatov, the three-story building of the school, as noted by contemporaries, belonged to the best buildings of this type in Russia. In 1907, the school was named after Emperor Nicholas II. The director of the school from the moment of its foundation until 1918 was A. S. Sinyavskyi – a historian, a well-known social and political figure, with whom prominent scientists worked there: D. I. Yavornytskyi, D. I. Doroshenko, I. M. Truba, Yu. S. Krymskyi, I. P. Akinfiev, I. F. Vertogradov and others. During the First World War, there was an infirmary within the walls of the school (in 1915).
A year later, the building was returned to the educational institution, but only for a very short time. Further historical events of the first quarter of the 20th century changed the purpose of using many buildings. This fate did not pass the building of the Commercial School. From the beginning of the 1920s, the Katerynoslav Provincial Executive Committee and Provincial Executive Committee were located there, later the District Executive Committee with departments and the District of the CP(B)U, and from 1932 the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Executive Committee and party institutions.
In 1935, after a large-scale fire, the building was reconstructed according to the project of the famous architect O. L. Krasnoselsky and two more floors were added, as a result of which the crown elements and the internal corridor layout were lost. During the German-fascist occupation, the building housed a German hospital and a military unit. During the liberation of the city, the building was not damaged. Since 1946, party and Soviet authorities have again been located there (until their relocation in 1970 to the newly built premises, which now houses the regional state administration).
In 1978, the building acquired the status of a historical monument, and in addition, the first memorial plaque was unveiled, announcing that in May 1921, F.E. Dzerzhynskyi performed here. In Soviet times, famous state and party figures of the USSR and Ukraine worked there – G. I. Petrovskyi ( spoke in May 1937 ), L. I. Brezhnev (1939-1941, 1947-1950), V. V. Shcherbytskyi (1954 -1957, 1964-1965) – in 2003, a memorial plaque was opened in his honor.
Currently, the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Council works fruitfully in the building. In 1996, at the initiative and at the expense of Nina Antonivna, the daughter of A. S. Sinyavskyi, a citizen of the United States, a granite plaque was installed, which informs that it was in this building that such outstanding scientists worked as: A. S. Sinyavskyi, D. I. Doroshenko, D. I. Yavornytskyi. The exposition of the exhibition is built on the basis of copies of rare materials from the funds of the Dnipropetrovsk Historical Museum, the Regional History Department of the Regional Universal Scientific Library, and the State Archives of the Dnipropetrovsk Region.
