Currently, the museum employs 7 staff members.
This one-story stone building with characteristic rusticated walls, giving it a solid appearance, was built in 1887 by merchant M.N. Ilyin, who was engaged in livestock farming, in the very center of Karakol. Initially, it served as a summer residence for his family before the revolution.
From 1918 to 1920, this building housed the District Council of Deputies, the headquarters of the regional Revolutionary Committee, the military enlistment office, a library, and the House of Defense.
On November 1, 1948, by a decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, the building was transformed into a museum.
Since January 17, 2001, according to the decision of the Karakol City Kenesh, the museum has received its current name — "the historical and local history museum of the city of Karakol".
The museum's exhibition features artifacts that reflect the rich history and culture of Karakol, as well as elements of the traditional nomadic life of the Kyrgyz people.
A separate hall of the museum is dedicated to a permanent photo exhibition of works by Ella Maier, an outstanding Swiss traveler who became the first officially registered European woman traveler to explore Central Asia. The black-and-white photographs taken by Maier captured the era before Central Asia became part of the Soviet Union, and their images remain relevant, reflecting a vanished world.
The museum consists of a total of seven halls.
