The GULAG History State Museum was founded in 2001 by Anton Antonov-Ovseenko, a well-known historian, writer and public figure, who himself was a prisoner of Stalin’s labor camps. The museum collection comprises a documentary archive, letters and memoirs by former GULAG prisoners, their personal belongings and a collection of artworks by former GULAG inmates and contemporary artists. The museum is dedicated to the history of the rise, development and decline of the Soviet labor camp system, an instrumental and integral part of the Soviet state machinery in the 1930s – 50s, and its political, administrative and economic role. The museum holds various exhibitions dedicated to one of the darkest memories of our country's history.