Museum of Zoology

Categories / Science. Education/Museums
MUSEUM OF ZOOLOGY of the Institute of Zoology of the Russian Academy of Sciences (1 University Embankment), Russia's largest museum of its type. Founded in 1832 it first welcomed visitors in 1838. In 1930 the Institute of Zoology emerged on the basis of the museum. Kunstkammer collections laid the foundation for the museum, and it was through the efforts of F. F. Brandt, P. K. Kozlov, N. N. Miklukho-Maclay, P. S. Pallas, and N. M. Przhevalsky that the museum added to its collections. A constantly growing collection is arranged according to the zoological system principles. For instance, the Fauna of Black Smokers exposition is devoted to species discovered in the 1970s in sub-water volcanic zones. The museum boasts a collection of 40,000 exhibits, of which many are rare and unique, including the world's only mammoth and two mammoth calves, a southern elephant fossil skeleton, a stuffed marsupial wolf and wild camels. Annually the museum is visited by some 600,000 people. Since 1896 the museum has been located in the building of the former Customs Packhaus (1826-32, architect I. Lucini); the exposition department of the museum was opened in 1901.

References: Наумов Д. В. Зоологический музей АН СССР: Крат. история и описание экспозиции. Л., 1980; Слепкова Н. В. На Васильевском острову у Дворцового моста. СПб., 2001; Зоологический музей: Путеводитель. СПб., 2002.

N. L. Korsakova. Brandt Johann Friedrich (Fedor Fedorovich)
Kozlov Sergey Sergeevich
Luchini Giovanni (Ivan Franzevich)
Miklukho-Maclay Nikolay Nikolaevich
Pallas Peter Simon
Przhevalsky Nikolay Mikhailovich
Universitetskaya Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city, house 1
Наумов Д. В. Зоологический музей АН СССР: Крат. история и описание экспозиции. Л., 1980
Слепкова Н. В. На Васильевском острову у Дворцового моста. СПб., 2001
Зоологический музей: Путеводитель. СПб., 2002 Kunstkammer
1838