The State Historical and Cultural Institution "Gomel Palace and Park Ensemble" is one of the oldest museum institutions in the Republic of Belarus.
The construction of the palace was begun in 1777 at the direction of Field Marshal Pyotr Aleksandrovich Rumyantsev (1725-1796), to whom Catherine II was gifted the "village of Gomiy" for outstanding victories in the war with Turkey.
In 1834, the owner of the Gomel estate became a major Russian military leader, a participant in the Patriotic War of 1812, who became famous during the Russian-Turkish and Russian-Persian wars, Field Marshal Ivan Fyodorovich Paskevich (1782-1856), Count Erivansky, His Eminent Prince of Warsaw.
Under the new owner, the formation of the palace and park ensemble continued. In 1837-1851gg. A large-scale reconstruction of the palace was carried out. At the same time as the reconstruction of the palace, a park was created around it. Various species of trees and shrubs, including exotic ones, were imported from different regions of Russia and from abroad, and alleys were broken down. In the same period, romantic corners of the park are formed. The bed of the ancient rivulet Gomeyuk is transformed into the Swan Pond, lawns with flower beds, grottoes, arbors, fountains are arranged, and copies of antique sculptures are installed in park alleys. After these transformations, the architectural and park ensemble in Gomel became one of the outstanding creations of A. Idzkovsky and one of the best Russian estates. The traditions of arranging the palace and collecting were continued with Field Marshal Fyodor Ivanovich Paskevich's son (1823-1903). In the second half of the 19th century, a house church in honor of St. John the Theologian and St. Elizabeth. In the central part, the porch from the side of the city was changed, the now existing ramp was built. Subsequently, until the beginning of the 20th century, the palace retained its appearance without significant changes.
The Great Patriotic War caused great damage to the palace museum and the integrity of its collections, during which museum values were evacuated, and in June 1946 the funds were returned to Gomel, but it turned out that about 200 exhibits remained from the evacuated objects, although the collections In the pre-war Gomel Museum, there were 7540 exhibits - a significant part of the museum fund was lost.
Today the museum of the Gomel Palace and Park Ensemble is a scientific, methodological and consulting center for organizing the work of museums in the Gomel region, it is one of the largest and most respected museums in the Republic of Belarus.