The museum, opened in 1990, includes several sections. Among them are "Peasant Life", "Residents of the Surazh District on the Fronts of the Great Patriotic War", where you can see personal belongings of war participants, documents, and relics from those years, as well as "Urban Life" and "Archaeology of Our Region".

One of the sections is dedicated to the first Minister of Education of the Russian Empire, Count P.V. Zavadovsky, whose estate was located in the village of Lyalychi near Surazh. Visitors are also attracted by materials about another famous native of these places, composer N.A. Roslavets from the village of Dushatino.

The museum occupies a two-story stone building, built in 1893, which previously served as a merchant's mansion.