The exposition is situated on the second floor of the Southern Building of the Historical and Architectural Complex “Konny Dvor” of the 18th – 19th century. It demonstrates a large number of exhibits presenting the world-famous centers of artistic woodwork, lacquer painting on papier-mache and metal, leading centers of clay toys, printed shawls and kerchiefs embroidered in gold. These centers are concentrated in the Moscow, Vladimir, Vologda, Ivanovo, Nizhny Novgorod and other regions. The Museum collections of Russian artistic handicrafts were formed in the course of eighty years. They include samples of mass production, as well as, unique artistic works, made for All-Russian and International Exhibitions. Some items were specially commissioned. The highly artistic, diverse and comprehensive collection is regarded as one of the best in our country.

Toys occupy the main place in the exposition. Sergiev Posad is one of the most famous centers of toy production. The Museum presents ladies and hussars carved of a three-edged log, nurses, matryeshkas popular in the second half of the 19th – early 20th century and sets of architectural toys including “The Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra”.

The Bogorodskoye toys are closely connected with Sergiev Posad. Interesting toys of the 19th century are “General Skobelev on Horseback” made by P.F. Bardenkov, “A Man with a Bear” made by D.I. Puchkov. Amusing many-figured compositions illustrating Russian folk tales and scenes of new Soviet life were made in the 1930s by A.F. Balayev, N.E. Eroshkin, V.T. Polinov, A.G. Shishkin.

Local handicrafts are also represented by furniture, chests, boxes, plates decorated with carving, poker lines, ornamental painting. Local artists use Russian folk tales, architectural views of Old Russian towns, Sergiev Posad, folk art ornaments as main themes for their works. The Museum also presents an interesting collection of clay toys with rare 19th - 20th century samples. At present there are several centers producing clay toys, some of them, like Kargopol (Arkhangelsk), Dymkovo (Vyatka), Filimonovo (the Tula Region), Abashevo (the Penza Region), Skopin (the Ryazan Region) are known all over the world.