The Yuriev-Polsky Historical, Architectural, and Art Museum is one of the well-known museums of the "Small Golden Ring" of Russia. The history of its creation and the reasons for its establishment are reflected in the museum archives. A document dated January 6, 1920, mentions that the board for museum affairs, art protection, and historical monuments listened to a report by A.I. Romanov about his trip to Vladimir regarding museum matters. As a result, it was decided to "ask the executive committee to urgently provide premises for the museum" to fulfill the resolution of the provincial congress from July 10, 1919. The museum's opening was timed to coincide with the celebration of the October Revolution on November 7, 1920.

The first director of the Yuriev-Polsky Art and Historical Museum was 37-year-old art teacher Afanasy Ivanovich Romanov, a graduate of the Stroganov School, who worked at the 1st Soviet school of the second stage. The museum was located in the dining room and an adjacent room of this school. A year later, all museum exhibits were moved to the building of the former merchants' rooms of the Khlabnikov family. Among the first exhibits were nationalized valuables from the estates of landowners, merchants, and the Golitsyn and Saltykov princes, from private collections of manufacturers Ganshin and Ovsyannikov, as well as from churches and monasteries. Two years later, the museum's collection significantly increased and could not fit in the small merchant rooms. In 1922-1923, with the assistance of P.D. Baranovsky, 1,325 museum items were placed in the former male Mikhailo-Arkhangelsky Monastery.

Baranovsky proposed to create a museum based on the monastery to preserve this highly artistic architectural complex of the 16th-19th centuries located in the city center. At this time, the museum's funds were partially replenished with monastery property. Based on the collected materials, exhibitions were opened. The document states: "a cultural and historical department is being prepared for opening, which has gathered items of Finnish and Slavic culture from the 10th-11th centuries, found during random excavations in the territory of Yurievsky district, a collection of ancient Russian weapons from the 11th-12th centuries, a collection of coins from the 15th-18th centuries, religious cult items from the 17th-19th centuries, various atlases and maps." In total, the first department contained 574 items.