The Arzamas Historical and Art Museum is dedicated to the history and culture of Arzamas and its surroundings. It is located in the historical center of the city, on Sobornaya Square, near the intersection of Kirova and Vladimirskaya streets.

In 1954, Arzamas received the status of a regional city, which made the opening of a local history museum necessary. For this purpose, on October 15, 1956, two buildings of the former Ilyinskaya Church were transferred to the new museum. On July 1, 1957, I.G. Korablev became the director of the museum. Initially, there were only three staff members: the director, the head of the household, and the accountant. In 2001, N.V. Razina became the director, having previously held the position of chief curator of the collections. Currently, the museum employs 15 people, including 6 research staff, an accountant, a deputy director for economic affairs, and technical personnel.

The museum's collection consists of 29,995 main fund items and 1,059 auxiliary fund items. It includes archaeological finds, collections of fabrics, porcelain, numismatics, old printed books, icons, works by Arzamas craftsmen, painting, and graphics.

The Ilyinskaya Church, the former building of the museum, is an architectural monument of the 18th century. Its uniqueness lies in the type of construction, an octagon on a square base. Founded in 1746, the stone church is built in the style of Russian Baroque and has several tiers.

Since January 1, 2013, the museum has begun a new chapter in its history, moving to a new building constructed in the early 20th century. This house belonged to titular adviser and pharmacist Alexander Alexeyevich Moskvin. From 1919 to 1920, the Arzamas City Youth Union was located here, in which Arkady Gaidar was actively involved.