nerchinsk museum of local lore - butin palace

Butins Palace is "The Must See" in Nerchinsk. While you walk around this huge palace you can start to imagine what this sleepy town would of been like back when it was in its hay day. The museum has a great selection of the towns history and a copy of "The Treaty Nerchinsk" and lets face it, if you are planning a trip to Nerchinsk you know about the Treaty of Nechinsk and its importance in this area. There is no English any where in the museum and the local guide can only speak Russian. You do need to take a guided tour of the museum so a Russian translator is a must. The tour only costs 30R each + 5R for plastic booties. In the palace there are these huge mirrors. Mikhail Butin had brought the mirrors at 1878 world fair in Paris and had the shipped all the way to Nerchinsk. At the time the mirrors were claimed to be the largest mirrors in the world.