The Orlov Museum of Palaeontology (the Museum, for short) is an integral part of the Institute of Palaeontology of the Russian Academy of Sciences (the Institute, for short). It is rightfully considered one of the largest natural history museums in the world. The exhibitions of the Museum are dedicated to the evolution of the organic world of the Earth.
The history of the Institute and Museum started in 1716 when Peter the Great founded the Kunstkammer that contained finds deemed curious by the tsar such as bones and teeth of Ice Age mammals. Later on, these collections were kept at the Mineral Room of the Academy of Sciences, which eventually turned into the Mineralogical Museum. By 1925, the year of the 200th anniversary of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Mineralogical Museum had been divided into two independent museums, the Geological Museum and the Mineralogical Museum. An invaluable collection of palaeontological material was concentrated at the Geological Museum headed by A. Borisyak. The main part of the collection was contained by the Department of Osteology and the Northern Dvina Gallery that featured skeletons of Permian vertebrate animals obtained by the long-term excavations made by Professor V. Amalitsky in the early 20th century.
The Institute had already possessed unique holdings by the time of its foundation. Its exposition occupied two rooms of the total area of over 1,500 sq. m (16,000 sq. ft); it was opened for the public. There existed a project for its expansion with finds made by several large palaeontological expeditions. As soon as 1931, A. Gartmann-Weinberg had prepared an overall design of the Museum, which had never been fully implemented, because the Institute moved from Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) to Moscow. At that time, many hot disputes about the future of the Museum were held. On one hand, it was necessary to quickly find suitable premises in Moscow; on the other hand, it was also necessary to think about creating a new exposition that would meet the modern standards of science and museum business.
By the time of the 17th International Geological Congress in 1937, the Museum had been opened. It occupied a building at 16 Bolshaya Kaluzhskaya Street (later renamed Leninsky Avenue), which formerly hosted a manege of Count Orlov. At first, the exposition area was only 700 sq. m (7,500 sq. ft). Nevertheless, the Museum managed to host many wonderful palaeontological objects such as finds made in Russia and other countries by several generations of Russian palaeontologists.
During the Second World War, the Museum was closed, and the major part of its collections was evacuated to Almaty, Kazakhstan. As soon as they had come back, the employees of the Museum started recreating the exposition. In 1944, the Museum was again opened for the public. It was at that time that Yu. Orlov became the head of the Institute. Thanks to successful field work and excavations, the palaeontological collections of the Museum were continuously expanded. It became increasingly difficult to find a spot in the exposition for new interesting finds, and the small building became almost unsuitable for the Museum. In 1954, it was necessary to close the Museum, to the great disappointment of its employees and visitors.
Academician Yu. Orlov was convinced that the Museum needed its own spacious home capable of putting all its unique collections on display and making them available for a wide range of educated people, school and university students in the first place. In 1965, having gone through many years of bureaucratic procedures, he obtained a USSR government decision to create a new Museum of Palaeontology and to allocate 2 million roubles for completing this task.
After Yu. Orlov had suddenly died in 1966, the Museum was renamed after him.
The design of the building was developed specially for the Museum by Yu. Platonov and his team at the Main Design and Research Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences. The design was officially approved in 1968 and later received the USSR State Prize. However, construction works started in 1972 only. The new Museum was created for almost two decades by leading researchers of the Institute of Palaeontology as well as by a team of best Moscow architects, construction engineers, designers and animalists. Thanks to their joint effort, a unique museum ensemble was created, one of its kind in the whole world. The architecture of the red-brick building of the Museum resembles that of ancient fortresses; its central inner court is surrounded by four exposition areas with four adjacent towers.
Long-term research expeditions conducted by employees of the Institute in countries of the former USSR, China, Mongolia and other countries resulted in very rich collections of palaeontological material; some of them are on display at the Museum. The four exposition areas of the Museum that include six rooms systematically introduce visitors to the mysterious world of ancient animals and plants, ranging from the most ancient ones to virtually modern ones. Each room presents organism groups that characterise certain geologic periods as well as the most interesting fauna complexes.
The new Museum is situated in a picturesque district of the South-Eastern outskirts of Moscow at 123 Profsoyuznaya Street. It was opened for the public in 1987. Since that time the Museum has been one of the largest research and education centres of Moscow.
Over more than 100 years of existence the State Historical Museum has met expectations of its founders and fans.
The Museum collection numbers about 4.5 million items; the documents archives contain more than 12 million pages.
The historical building of the Museum on Red Square was completely restored; the original appearance of the interiors...
Laying of the Museum foundation stone took place on the 17th of August, 1898. Many years of huge and creative work preceded this remarkable event. The Moscow Duma had passed the territory of the former Kolymazhny Court adjacent to the Kremlin for the construction by the time of the solemn ceremony of stone laying in the presence of Emperor Nikolas ...
The Zoological Museum of Moscow University is the oldest and largest Moscow museum, where visitors can learn about diversity of animal species of our planet, while professional zoologists can find the richest research collections. It started its history in 1791 as a Cabinet of the Natural History at Moscow University, where animals and plants, mine...
WorldWalk.info
en
info@worldwalk.info