Human civilization is unthinkable without the preservation of cultural heritage. One of the main roles in this matter is played by museums. The Mining Museum shows the country's mining history, the art museum - masterpieces of art, etc. All kinds and types of museums created on the planet cannot be counted. And we will talk about those collections that carefully preserve very special Russian museums - the Mining Museum of the St. Petersburg State Institute, renamed the University in 2011, and the Geological Museum at Yekaterinburg Mining University.
Pantries of Russian minerals
There are not too many museums in Russia related to the history of mining, we have about thirty of them. In addition to the mentioned exhibitions in higher educational institutions of this profile, there are also specialized museums: the Mining Museum-Reserve in Nizhny Tagil and the Zmeinogorsk Museum of the History of Mining Development in Altai. In the Nizhny Novgorod region there is a unique underground museum of mining, geology and speleology. It is located in a mine with a depth of 70 meters.
Underground treasures of the northern capital
The Mining Museum of St. Petersburg State University was founded in 1773 by decree of Empress Catherine the Second. Four years later, he was visited by the guest of the Russian imperial court - the Swedish king Gustav the Third. He arrived with gifts: two hundred and two samples of Scandinavian stones, ores and salts adorned the collection of our museum. Since then, it has been constantly replenished with exhibits.
The exposition is located in three halls, the most magnificent of which is the columned one. The Mining Museum of St. Petersburg has the rarest treasures of rocks. Here you can see samples of Trans-Baikal jade, Japanese rock crystal, petrified wood with amethyst. The repository of natural exhibits has a large number of natural crystals, there are beryls from nine dozen deposits of the world, a 7 cm long euclase crystal, and a magnificent malachite collection.
On and above the ground
Fans of stars in the St. Petersburg Museum will enjoy a curious collection of meteorites (more than a thousand samples), and admirers of antiquity will delight paleontological exhibits. There are about two hundred samples of edged weapons in the museum’s collection, as well as twenty miniatures of the Faberge jewelry factory.
The museum, located on the 22nd line of Vasilievsky Island in St. Petersburg, offers free visits and four excursions devoted to the history of mining technology, introducing the basics of mineralogy and telling about the evolution of life on our planet.
Unique collection of the Urals
The Geological Museum of the State Mining University in Yekaterinburg is well known not only at home, but also abroad. Its "highlight" is that it stores unique samples collected only in the underground pantries of the Urals. Almost a third of the minerals known on the planet were discovered in the bowels of this region. The museum presents Ural ores and stones not only in their natural appearance, but also demonstrates skillful products from them.
The Ural Geological (or, as it is often called, a mining museum) Yekaterinburg rightfully considers it to be its pearl. Among the most unique exhibits, one can name a quartz-hair crystal with interspersed red and golden rutile minerals. This crystal block of 70 cm high recalls the legend of the hair of Venus, frozen in a mountain stream. The so-called ruby rose and two malachite vases, filigree made at the Yekaterinburg lapidary factory, amaze with splendor.
In addition to minerals, the museum exhibits paleontological samples found in the Ural region that tell the visitor about the local ancient fauna and flora. The cultural institution is located in Yekaterinburg at the address: Kuybysheva street, 39. A ticket for an exhibition costs 120 rubles, for students and seniors it is half the price.
Keeping up with the times
Like many modern museums, the mining museum of the Ural capital offers visitors the latest projects. For example, during a master class on the manufacture of paints from minerals, its participants get an amazing opportunity to cook egg tempera with their own hands and try out their work in painting. Since 2011, the Ural exposition has also taken part in the now fashionable “Night of Museums” campaign.