The Ellikkala branch of the State Museum of History and Culture of the Republic of Karakalpakstan was founded in 1989 in Buston city, the administrative center of Ellikkala district.
In 2007, at the international symposium in honor of the 100th anniversary of the birth of a prominent Soviet scientist, professor, academician Sergei Pavlovich Tolstov, the museum was named after him for his enormous contribution to the study and coverage of the history of Ancient Khorezm. In 2017, the museum was transformed as the Ellikkala district branch of the State Museum of the History and Culture of the Republic of Karakalpakstan. Today, in the exposition halls, you can see more than 3,000 rare exhibits about the history of Ancient Khorezm and Karakalpakstan, as well as ethnographic and applied arts of the local population. Many archaeological finds are the result of studies of ancient fortresses such as Toprak-kala, Ayaz-kala, Guldursin-kala and others.
Today the museum is not only a unique treasury, but also a unique bridge linking the present with the past.
The museum includes several departments: Ethnography and folk arts, recent history. In addition, the museum displays expositions of the flora and fauna of this region.