The medieval East Slavic city of Berestye is the one-of-a-kind museum in Europe that gives an opportunity to look into the distant past of the settlement located in today's Brest. This covered archaeological area shows unique wooden artifacts from the 11th-13th centuries.

The museum was opened to visitors in March 1982 on the territory of the archaeological site, which has operated since 1968. The excavated and restored residential and outbuildings typical of those places became the key exposition of the museum.

The scale of the museum is huge: the main excavation site covers an area of ​​1,118 square meters; a part of the craftsmen's quarter is at a depth of 4 meters. There are 28 log houses of the 13th century, wooden pavements, palisades, parts of adobe stoves. The preservation, or rather, the conservation of the found wooden structures and parts of the pavements, is maintained with the help of special synthetic substances.

By the appearance and perimeter of the excavations, one can imagine the layout of the ancient city of Berestye: the main layout consisted of streets. The houses, oriented by blank walls to the streets, were located in 3-4 rows and at a fairly close distance from each other (only 40-60 centimeters). The layout of the houses themselves was simple: they were square, consisted of one room; their walls made of coniferous logs were connected at the corners with simple log construction.

The museum also has exhibition halls with a total area of ​​252 square meters. In addition to the stands devoted to the origin and history of the ancient city, as well as to the way of life of the Slavs, the halls contain more than a thousand things and objects related to the crafts and life of the residents of Berestye. The exhibits include cultural artifacts and items of iron and non-ferrous metalworking, bone carving, leather making, weaving, woodworking, pottery, animal husbandry, farming, fishing, hunting, trade. In general, there are 43 thousand exhibits stored in the excavation area, the museum's funds, and the showcases.