Nazib Gayazovich Zhiganov, composer, Hero of Socialist Labor, People's Artist of the USSR, three-time laureate of the State Prize of the USSR, and holder of the Republican Prize named after G. Tukay. He founded the Kazan State Conservatory and served as its rector from 1945 to 1988, as well as being a professor. In the house where the museum is now located, Zhiganov spent the last 17 years of his life, from 1971 to 1988. The furnishings of the apartment and the authentic items that surrounded him recreate the atmosphere in which he lived and created.

A special value is represented by the archive, a unique collection of documents from the 1920s and 1980s. It includes personal documents, manuscripts, books with the composer's annotations and dedications from figures of literature and art, as well as memoirs of contemporaries, a photo archive, and autographs of famous cultural figures. The epistolary archive contains several hundred documents, including letters from D. Shostakovich, A. Khachaturian, T. Khrennikov, R. Shchedrin, B. Pokrovsky, N. Rakhlin, G. Litinsky, and others.

The preservation of these archives became possible thanks to the efforts of the composer's wife, N. I. Zhiganova.