Tanais is an archaeological open-air museum-reserve, the extreme northern point of the Antique civilization in a lower reaches of Don. The quantity of the finds taken from the ground in the territory of the reserve makes hundred thousands subjects. Ancient port Tanais was founded in III century BC by Greeks of Bospor empire and had existed up to III century AD, being the centre of trade and workmanship. The territory of the museum-reserve unites monuments of history and culture of different times and peoples; rubbles of fortifications, towers, dwellings of townspeople are kept here. Within the protected territory a necropolis, an excavation, a Meothic hut, a breadboard model of a fortress, a museum of ancient military art with the unique collection of arbalests and a museum of excavation are located where the collection of amphorae, subjects of work and life of the ancient Greeks and the Tanais inhabitants are exhibited; in the territory of the reserve expeditions from various regions of Russia and foreign countries annually work.