Gold was discovered near Yekaterinburg, at the site of the future city of Berёzovsky, in 1745. On May 21 of that year, peasant Erofei Markov reported to the office of the Main Administration of Factories of Siberia and the Urals in Yekaterinburg that while searching for rock crystal, he found grains resembling gold. However, the geological party could not find the precious metal at the specified location for two years. Only in the autumn of 1747 was the first deposit found, which marked the beginning of the gold mining industry in Russia. Soon, the country became one of the world leaders in gold production and reserves.

On January 30, 1757, a gold ingot weighing 2.7 kg was sent to St. Petersburg, marking the start of the Berёzovsky factory's operations. In 1814, Lev Brusnitsin developed a method for washing placer gold on the banks of the Berёzovka River, leading to the first gold rush in the world. These events are reflected in the city's coat of arms and flag: the lion symbolizes Erofei Markov, while the sun in its paws represents gold, the circle in the center represents ore gold, and the shining crown represents placer gold.

Gold was found in the Urals 150 years earlier than in the Klondike. By the end of the 18th century, the Berёzovye mines numbered over 50. The Berёzovskoye deposit turned out to be very rich and long-lasting: over 250 years, more than a thousand mines were built here, of which four are currently operational.

The Gold Museum in Berёzovsky was founded in 1970 at the initiative of local historian Silvia Opyonkina. Since then, the museum has developed, changed names, and expanded its exhibits. In the late 1970s, it became part of the Sverdlovsk Regional Local History Museum, the successor to the UOLE Museum (Ural Society of Natural Science Lovers). A few years ago, the museum building was closed for repairs, which lasted more than four years. In 2013, the updated exhibition opened.

The museum has a rich collection of minerals from the Berёzovsky gold ore deposit and samples of gold-bearing rocks. Visitors can see the complex journey of Russian gold, from Erofei Markov's accidental find to the development of the settlement and industrial growth of Berёzovsky and its surroundings, from the state royal monopoly to private mining, then to nationalization, Soviet monopoly, and Stakhanovite labor to restore mines destroyed during the Civil War, to post-Soviet privatization and the bankruptcies of the 1990s, and to the current recovery.

The exhibition includes unique today, but widely used professional tools and attributes of gold miners from a hundred years ago: yourgerd, scoop, scrapers, trays, jars for collecting gold dust, scales for gold, and others. Here, one can see maps of gold mining areas from the mid-19th century.

The museum provides detailed information about the study of the unique Berёzovsky gold ore deposit and the development of its reserves over more than two and a half centuries. Special attention is given to Lev Ivanovich Brusnitsin, who developed the technology for extracting placer gold.

Multimedia equipment is installed in all halls.