The Sevastopol Art Museum was founded in 1927. Since 1958 it occupied the first two floors of the merchant Gavalov’s mansion built in the late XIX century. This is one of the most beautiful buildings in the city. The foundation of the museum was formed gradually. Pictures from the museums of Moscow, Petersburg and Yalta as well as from the nationalized private collections were transferred here. Among the curious paintings are the works of Dutch and Flemish artists of the XVII century from the estate of Prince Golitsyn Novy Svet (New World) near Sudak.
The Art Museum is named after one of its directors - Mikhail Kroshitskiy. It was he who in 1941 evacuated the most valuable exhibits of the collection to Tomsk by his own forces. Among the authors of the paintings in the museum one can see the names of Russian artists of the XIX - XX centuries: Aivazovsky, Tropinin, Shishkin, Repin, Konchalovsky, Petrov-Vodkin and many others. The exposition is compact but saturated.