The best way to learn about Uzbekistan, to familiarize oneself with its history and traditions and to understand the mentality of its people is to visit the country's diverse museums. The first public museum in Uzbekistan was opened in Tashkent in 1876. Currently, there are 444 museums of various kinds functioning in Uzbekistan, most of them are museums of history and regional studies. The museums contain over 2.5 million exhibits in their exhibition halls and storerooms, including archaeological, ethnographic, and numismatic collections.