| Name: |
Museum of Ethnography |
| |
 |
| Address: |
4/1 Inzhenernaya ulitsa (metro
stations: Nevsky prospekt and Gostiny Dvor) |
| Phone: |
+7 (812) 210-4421, +7 (812)
210-4320 |
| Open: |
Open: 10am - 5pm
Closed: Mondays and the last Friday of every month |
| Description: |
The museum is devoted to the
culture and everyday life of the peoples of Russia. One of
the world's largest ethnographic museums, it began to acquire
its first collections from the mid-1890s as part of the Ethnographic
Department of the Russian Museum. In 1934 it became an independent
institution, renamed the State Museum of the Ethnography of
the Peoples of the USSR in 1948. It acquired its current title
in 1992.
The museum building adjoins the Mikhailovsky Palace and was
specially constructed for the Ethnographic Department of the
Russian Museum (1900-11, architect Vasily Svinin). Its extremely
rich collections, totalling over 500,000 items, reflect the
material and spiritual culture of the more than 150 peoples
living in the Russian Federation today.
The tools, domestic items, folk costumes, utensils and objects
of ritual that are exhibited in the 24 halls of the museum,
give an idea about the occupations of the population, their
dwellings, holidays, rites and religious beliefs. There is
a unique photographic library and a scientific archive.
Most of the exhibits illustrating the domestic culture of
the various peoples of Russia in the 19th and 20th centuries
are presented in the form of lifesize models.
The focal point of the museum is its Special Storeroom which
contains a great variety of national ornaments, weaponry and
devational objects, made of precious metals, pearl and precious
and semiprecious stones. Many of these artefacts are the only
ones of their kind and the art of their production has long
been forgotten. The displays "The Slavs of Eastern Europe"
and "From the History of St.Petersburg Gubernia"
dwell on the distinctive features of regional cultures.
The museum contains a shop where tourists can buy handcrafted
goods. |
