This paper deals with the history of the Russian Museum of the Emperor Alexander III, examines the museum's expositions for the years 1898 and 1915, distributing works of art on historical epochs and comparing the changes taking place in them. The images of the most popular historical figures at the museum expositions are considered and their presentation for museum visitors of the studied time is analyzed. The purpose of the study was to analyze the role of the museum in the formation of historical consciousness of Russian society in the second half of the 19th - early 20th century. To achieve it, tasks were set such as studying catalogs of expositions for the specified years, allocating among all subjects that carried the most essential information about the past, compiling statistical tables for the years under study, and also comparing and analyzing them. As a result, data were obtained about the museum's expositions for the periods indicated and the distribution of objects on them for historical epochs which they reflected, which allowed us to identify the images of the most frequently encountered historical figures and events.