Biological State Museum. K.A. Timiryazev was created in Moscow in 1922. Since 1934, it has been located in a building that is a monument of architecture, in the past it was a museum of Russian antiquities by P.I.Schukin, built in the New Russian style from 1892 to 1915. Now the Natural Science Museum has 80,000 unique exhibits that have no analogues anywhere else in the world.
History of creation: Timiryazev Museum in Moscow
It began to be created in the fall of 1920, when the biologist B. Zavadovsky received the post of professor and became head of the department of the Communist University. Y. M. Sverdlova. Zavadovsky is a great scientist in the field of physiology and endocrinology, who studied with the biologist K. A. Timiryazev, the geneticist N. K. Koltsov, and the physiologist I. P. Pavlov. His research work contained more than 30 books and brochures. In the promotion of biological knowledge, the greatest help for Zavadovsky was the work on the organization of the museum.
The basis was a collection of anatomical and zoological preparations of associate professor A. L. Brodsky. Two halls were allocated for the museum in the university building, which was located on Miusskaya Square.
Opening
And May 7, 1922 Biological State Museum. K. A. Timiryazev was inaugurated. Zavadovsky understood that it was not worth stopping at the development of the museum, and he should not be empty. This place must be made an organic part of the structure of the city. The innovative scientist decided to continue the exhibition in the adjacent territory. Therefore, when the museum was located in the premises of the Sverdlovsk University, the square of Miusskaya Square turned into museum expositions of a living corner.
In the records of the museum for 1928-1929. it is written that the square was being processed according to the developed plan. As a result, unique green spaces were planted, which demonstrated successes in genetics, selection and artificial selection. For many years it was an exemplary base for teachers, students of schools and universities.
Biological corner
Zavadovsky believed that such a plan, biological corners, squares and parks should be arranged both in areas of Moscow, where there is little landscaping, and in other cities. The Biological State Museum named after K.A. Timiryazev was to serve as a good example for this.
In 1934, M. Gorky knocked out a whole complex of buildings in the pseudo-Russian style for the museum , and from the Shchukin estate the museum moved to Malaya Gruzinskaya. These buildings were also built by P. I. Schukin, only for his main large private collection.
P.I.Schukin
Pyotr Ivanovich Schukin (years of life - from 1853 to 1912) is one of 4 sibling collectors who collected ancient Russian works of art and explored the influence of Eastern culture on Russian. In 1891, he bought a piece of land equal to 1 hectare on Malaya Gruzinskaya Street and hired the architect B.V. Freidenberg. Then they together designed museum buildings on the samples of the provincial Russian “red brick” architecture, which the northern cities, and especially Yaroslavl, were famous for.
For 16 months in 1892-1893 the first building was rebuilt under openwork gabled roofs. Three years later, the building no longer had enough space for a rapidly growing collection, and Schukin was again forced to hire architects A. Erichson and V. Bashkirov, who by 1898 rebuilt the main entrance with a fence and a second building, which connected to the first deep underground gallery.
Reconstruction, Oblivion and New Life
In 1905, architect F. Kolbe also took part in the design, who supplemented the ensemble with a one-story building of the museum warehouse, made in the style of the old Moscow chambers of the 17th century.
As a result, in the same year, Schukin transferred the buildings with exhibits and the territory to the Historical Museum, however, he remains the main sponsor of the museum and the curator of the collection, continues to replenish it with new exhibits, pays for the maintenance of the museum and personally conducts excursions until his death (1912). However, it was closed during the revolution, and the collection was taken out by the Historical Museum. The buildings housed the Museum of Old Moscow.
Biological State Museum. K.A. Timiryazev arose in 1934. A greenhouse was built along the “new” building. In 1995, the entire architectural complex was given the official status of a monument of urban planning and architecture at the federal level.
Timiryazev Museum: exhibitions, address
Today, the exhibition area of the museum is 900 square meters. Since 1997, the first interactive biological exhibition with a vast exposition has opened here. Visitors can view exhibits under a microscope, evaluate aroma, touch, taste, etc. All this allows you to deepen your horizons.
Since 2007, seed biology quests have been held here, designed for parents and children, as well as thematic exhibitions, and various associations even operate - connoisseurs of orchids, cacti, phlox, gladioli, etc.
On the museum’s official website you can find out the schedule and reviews of exhibitions, a program of excursions, photographs of exhibits. An incredible number of visitors accept this famous museum, as it is insanely fascinating and interesting. And therefore it is better to foresee all the points in advance so that unnecessary unforeseen situations do not arise. In general, this is the most important thing to know when you visit the Timiryazev Museum. How to get to the museum? The nearest metro stations to Malaya Gruzinskaya, 15, where the museum is located, will help with this, and this is Barrikadnaya, Krasnopresnenskaya, Ulitsa 1905 goda. On the third Sunday of every month, admission is free for everyone.