The town has a very specific, unusual for a town name which has the same name as popular house animal known for its smartness - mouse. It was called in the honor of mouse because only here the world's Museum of Mouse has a huge collection of decorative mouses. Millions of people used to ignore significance of mouses because of their small size and harm they cause to household but they forget about the biggest scientific usage brought by mice. The reason the city carries such a name is to remind people about a huge role a mouse plays in our life as a symbol of prosperity and life.
When the communists came to power in 1917, they did not need Myshkin as a cultural center and tried to destroy everything that was constructed before. Most of the libraries were either demolished or closed. In 1927 town of Myshkin turned to the village of Myshkin and lost its status as a town.
The location of Myshkin happened to be favorable thanks to the vicinity of Volga rapids, among which the Myshkin gate stood out for the complexity of ship navigation.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Myshkin experienced a lot of changes. In 1991 Myshkin acquired its status as a town and one of its most famous libraries was renovated. The world's sole museum of Mouse was opened and, besides, two other museums were estableshed.
The first of them honored the renowned vodka producer P. A. Smirnov and the second one - the antique Russian craftsmanship - valenok making.
Many new architectural buldings were built which preserved classical traditions of wooden architecture.
Nowadays, the museum is known all over the world for its uniqueness and a rich collection of decorative mouses.
Since the year of its origin in 1990, the museum were visited by many people who brought some toy mices made from different materials. The next year, in 1991, the museum became very popular because a lot of information about the museum was published in numerous newspapers and magazines.
