Many years ago, various Western broadcasters would repeat the address of the apartment where Andrei Sakharov, a prominent physicist and human rights activist, was exiled: 214 Gagarin Avenue. The museum has two parts.

The first part is an exhibition hall where you can learn about the life of the physicist, his ancestors from Nizhny Novgorod, his studies and family, his scientific work and public activities, his exile and the last years of his life.

The second part is the apartment museum telling an almost detective story of his seven-year exile in Gorky (name of Nizhny Novgorod from 1932 to 1990): the manuscript of his memoirs got purloined repeatedly, there was a 24×7 police post at the entrance, and KGB surveilled him from the next house.

The furnishings of that time have been recreated in this four-room apartment, which was quite typical by Soviet standards. Part of the exhibition is dedicated to Yelena Bonner, a human rights activist and Sakharov’s second wife — her story is told in the one-woman show 'Kefir Should Be Heated', which is given at the museum once a month.