The first memorial museums dedicated to the memory of outstanding social and public figures, artists, writers, musicians, and doctors appeared in Ukraine at the beginning of the 20th century. The founding of this kind of museum was solely the merit of an active public, as well as the friends and family of an eminent personality.
Among the estate museums of a literary and memorial profile that began to appear in Ukraine in the 1920s and 1930s, the Poltava Museum was one of the first, dedicated to the life and work of the famous humanist writer and democrat Volodymyr Korolenko. The museum is opened in the building at 1 Malo-Sadova Street (now 1 Korolenko Street), where Volodymyr Korolenko lived with his family for 18 years. The writer's eldest daughter and the first director of the V. Korolenko Museum, Sofia, noted in her memoirs: "After my father's death, people did not forget him. Residents of Poltava and guests of our city constantly came here, to his apartment, in order to see the house in which he lived and where everything was preserved as it was during his life. Our family joyfully opened the door of the house for visitors, introducing them to Korolenko's way of life, showing his office." Korolenko's family carefully preserved the house and memorial items belonging to the writer. The beginning of the museum's activities can be considered July 27, 1928, when the exhibition "Life and work of V. Korolenko" was opened on the initiative of the family and with the support of the employees of the Poltava Museum of Local History. The status of the state museum was acquired in 1940, until then it was private and existed at the expense of the writer's family. During the WWII, the museum's exposition was evacuated, where the museum continued to work. Korolenko's house in Poltava, unfortunately, suffered significant destruction. In 1946, the house-museum of the writer was rebuilt, since then the institution has always attracted visitors. In 1955, Sofia noted that since the restoration, more than 50,000 people have visited the museum.
Now to the complex of the Poltava Literary and Memorial Museum of V. Korolenko includes: the writer's memorial estate - a historical monument of the late 19th - early 20th centuries, an outbuilding, the grave of V. Korolenko and his wife E.Korolenko on the territory of the city park of culture and recreation "Peremoha".
The museum collection includes more than 10,000 exhibits, including personal belongings of Volodymyr Korolenko and members of his family, a library, works of fine art, manuscripts, etc.
By Resolution No. 928 of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated September 3, 2009, the estate of the writer V. Korolenko and his grave are listed in the State Register of Immovable Monuments of Ukraine as a historical monument of national importance, protection number 160005-Н.
