The Vernadsky State Geological Museum is the geological

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

. Mineralogical collection was founded in 1755 and is now an earth sciences and educational centre of the

Russian Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; russian: Росси́йская акаде́мия нау́к (РАН) ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across t ...

History

Mikhail Lomonosov Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov (; russian: Михаил (Михайло) Васильевич Ломоносов, p=mʲɪxɐˈil vɐˈsʲilʲjɪvʲɪtɕ , a=Ru-Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov.ogg; – ) was a Russian Empire, Russian polymath, s ...

had studied mining principles in Germany, concluding that "it is necessary to use not only books, but objects of Nature", and it was he who came up with the principals of the charter of

Moscow Imperial University M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU; russian: Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова) is a public research university in Moscow, Russia and the most prestigious ...

, founded in January 1755, and for the founding of its mineralogical collection. The following month the

Demidov The House of Demidov (russian: Деми́довы) also Demidoff, was a prominent Russian Empire, Russian noble family during the 18th and 19th centuries. Originating in the city of Tula, Russia, Tula in the 17th century, the Demidovs found suc ...

s presented "the Mineral Study of Genkel" to the university. This collection was exhibited to the public in 1759 in the library of Aptekarsky House in the Department of Medicine. In 1778 Pavel Grigoryevich Demidov donated his own collection, along with 100,000 roubles for its maintenance, to the university and the new Faculty of Natural History and Agriculture was named after him.

External links

*
Vernadsky State Geological Museum
on worldwalk.info
Vernadsky State Geological Museum
at Google Cultural Institute. {{coord, display=title, 55, 45, 22.22, N, 37, 36, 40.55, E, type:landmark_region:RU_scale:800 Museums in Moscow 1755 establishments in the Russian Empire Geology museums in Russia Moscow State University * Natural history museums in Russia Cultural heritage monuments of regional significance in Moscow