Yalta Historical-Literary Museum is the oldest museum in Ukraine. It was founded in October 1892 in the Crimea-Caucasus mountain club on the basis of the Yalta branch. The idea of ​​creating this museum belongs to the doctor-climatologist V. Dmitriev and AL Bart-Delagartu - archaeologist, numismatist, military engineer. In support of this idea were many representatives of the local intelligentsia. For the formation of the museum were donated artifacts from members of the Mountain Club. They mainly consisted of numismatic collections and geological finds. Special pride of the museum is the collection of coins Bosporus kingdom and Roman coins found on the territory of Yalta.

In 1905, the museum has acquired a unique collection of Crimean butterflies collected over the years by Dr. Schmidt. Through collective and private donors, the museum had to recite 2600 1906 exhibits.

The basis of the exposition are archeological ancient monuments that once belonged to the collection AM Romanova - the Grand Duke, who was a big fan of archeology. These sites were found during excavations of the ancient Roman Charax strengthening.

Yalta Historical-Literary Museum today consists of a number of branches, which are located in an old mansion, which are monuments of architecture and culture. Exposition of the museum introduces the life of Yalta XIX-XX centuries. Many exhibits about staying on the territory of Yalta such famous figures as the MP Mussorgsky, IA Bunin, AP Chekhov and others. Visitors are showing great interest in historical and archaeological department, as well as the ethnographic collection dedicated to the traditions and culture of the Crimean Tatars South Coast.

2004 marked the opening of the exhibition "Treasures of the Romans, the Greeks and ready", which presented a unique archaeological finds of the Big Yalta. The exhibition presented the findings from the necropolis of the fifth and tenth centuries, as well as from the sanctuary near Gurzuf saddle. Main exhibition complemented rare editions of books, collections of antique ceramics, engravings, paintings, lithographs and objects of decorative art. Today the museum includes more than 135 000 exhibits.