The museum opened on November 14, 2001, in the presence of the maestro himself. It is located in Orenburg at 25 Ziminskaya Street, in the house where the Rostropovich family lived during the evacuation. This house belonged to Elena Adolfovna Lontkevich, a friend of Rostropovich's future wife. It was here that Leopold Vitoldovich met Sofia Nikolaevna, and in 1922 they registered their marriage. At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the Rostropovich family moved to Orenburg and occupied two rooms in Lontkevich's house.

Although the museum lacks authentic items from the Rostropovich family, the interior and setting of the mid-20th century have been recreated with high accuracy. The main task of the museum is to introduce visitors to the Orenburg roots of the famous musician. Leopold Vitoldovich's grandparents were the founders of music education in the Orenburg region. On the table of the museum-apartment lies a book gifted to Slava Rostropovich by composer Mikhail Chulaki, who found himself in Orenburg during the war and taught Rostropovich the basics of composition. Photographs of his mother, father, sister, and the musician himself hang on the walls.