The merchant Gavalov’s handsome late-19th-century palazzo houses Sevastopol’s art gallery on the first three floors, and a school of music on the upper two floors. It opened in 1927 but was severely damaged during the Second World War (Great Patriotic War), and painstakingly restored in the 1950s. Initially the permanent collection (removed inland for safety during the war) drew mainly on private collections on the Yalta Riviera that were nationalised in the 1920s, among them a large number of works from the Palace of Livadia, the Golitsyn’s house at Novy Svet, and the Baryatinskys’ Uch-Ghama. It includes paintings from the Dutch Golden Age, Western European bronzes, Meissen porcelain and works by leading Ukrainian and Russian artists from the 18th to the 20th centuries. The 20th century now dominates – some 4,000 works were acquired over the last 50 years.