The Sverdlovsk Regional Museum of Local Lore (russian: Свердловский областной краеведческий музей) (abbreviated as SOCM) is a museum in

Yekaterinburg Yekaterinburg ( ; rus, Екатеринбург, p=jɪkətʲɪrʲɪnˈburk), alternatively romanized as Ekaterinburg and formerly known as Sverdlovsk ( rus, Свердло́вск, , svʲɪrˈdlofsk, 1924–1991), is a city and the administra ...

Sverdlovsk Oblast Sverdlovsk Oblast ( rus, Свердловская область, Sverdlovskaya oblast) is a federal subject (an oblast) of Russia located in the Ural Federal District. Its administrative center is the city of Yekaterinburg, formerly known as S ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. The museum is one of the oldest in Yekaterinburg, having been founded in 1870. In addition the main branch of the museum, the institution manages several other museums in the region.

Description

History

The museum's history began when in December 1870 a group of notables in Ekaterinburg founded the

Ural Society of Natural Science Lovers The Ural Society of Natural Science Lovers (abbreviated as UOLE or WOLE) was a Russian organization. Functioning from the mid-19th to early 20th centuries, the organization supported the study of the natural sciences and history of the Urals. Prio ...

(UOLE), an organization dedicated to improving education in the area. Though the organization was primarily founded to study the natural history of the

Ural Mountains The Ural Mountains ( ; rus, Ура́льские го́ры, r=Uralskiye gory, p=ʊˈralʲskʲɪjə ˈɡorɨ; ba, Урал тауҙары) or simply the Urals, are a mountain range that runs approximately from north to south through western ...

, many of its members had other interests, including

meteorology Meteorology is a branch of the atmospheric sciences (which include atmospheric chemistry and physics) with a major focus on weather forecasting. The study of meteorology dates back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not ...

and

biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

. As the organization expanded, it and its members gradually began to establish a collection of papers, arts, and artifacts. In 1887 the UOLE hosted a major exhibition in Ekaterinburg, an event which resulted in the organization gathering many donations and greatly expanding its existing collection. In 1889 the UOLE opened its first physical location when it rented space in a local government building. This building remained in use until 1895 when a fire damaged both the building and the collection it housed. The city council of Ekaterinburg decided to allocate funds for the establishment of a new museum, but the project faced a number of delays and was eventually cancelled. As such, the museum was re-established in an older building that had been refurbished. Attendance grew with the population of Ekaterinburg, and according to one source 20,000 people visited the museum in 1920. The size of museum's collection also grew, as of 1912 the museum's collection had grown to over 30,000 items. The museum continued to operate as part of the UOLE, but in the 1920s the new Soviet government grew increasingly suspicious of the organization's activities (eventually dissolving it in 1929); as such, the museum was split off from the UOLE in 1925 and became an independent museum.

Collection

The Sverdlovsk Regional Museum of Local Lore has an extensive collection of artifacts. The museum's collection contains many archeological finds from the Ural region, including ancient bones, tools, and the famous Shigir Idol.

Branches

In addition to the main museum in Yekaterinburg, SOCM operates 10 other museums in the region.

References

{{Coord missing, Russia 1870 establishments in the Russian Empire Museums in Sverdlovsk Oblast Cultural heritage monuments of regional significance in Sverdlovsk Oblast