After a Soviet decree, the Sergiev Posad State History and Art Museum-Reserve was opened on 20th April 1920. The collection of Old Russian art forming the main part of the museum became a significant and important part of Russian spiritual and cultural history, and was fortunately never censored, despite strong pressure from the anti-religious feeling in the 1930s. The first exhibition in 1920 focused on the history of local art, and indeed it was decided that this would form the beginning of the permanent History and Art Museum, and, as a result, the museum acquired the collection of the Moscow Museum of Handicrafts. During the Second World War, the majority of the museum’s artefacts were sent to safety behind the Urals, and, despite the turbulent period, the museum still received a strong number of visitors. After the war, the monastery resumed activity and cathedrals opened once again for services, and the restoration works continued. In the following years, there was a nationwide effort to discover more about folk art, and to display more contemporary applied and decorative art. The town was declared a tourist centre and part of the Golden Ring of towns in Russia in 1969, and a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site in 1993.