The Museum of Nature in Vladimir was created on the basis of the exhibition, which was opened in 1990 by the Vladimir-Suzdal Museum-Reserve. The continuation of the work begun to nurture the caring attitude of people to the world around us has become a permanent exposition "Native Nature". Since 2008, the organizers of the museum offer to spend some free time among the created corners of nature and get to know more closely the inhabitants of the Vladimir region.
What is a museum for?
Vladimir region is huge. Its area is almost 30 thousand square kilometers, and the population is approaching one and a half million people. Dozens of rivers flow through its territory, there are many lakes, Meshchersky forests, meadows and swamps, the boundless Vladimir Opole stretch. That is, the natural background is great and varied. And what do people know about the world of animals and plants around them? How do they relate to what is called nature? Do they take care, care or are indifferent to the environmental degradation in the region? And what could it lead to?
The employees of the Museum of Wildlife in Vladimir are trying to educate adult visitors, and, most importantly, in children, the desire for a harmonious life with the world around them, to preserve the valuables presented to us, to love and marvel at the variety of plants and birds, animals and insects that live very close by.
A journey through the ages
Creating an exposition, employees applied a technique unusual for a classic museum demonstration. They decided to organize an excursion process in the form of time travel, starting from the moment the landscape area was formed, that is, from the ice age to the present day. For a figurative perception, visitors are presented with tablet cards that help to relate the current, familiar terrain to the exposition of geological eras in the Vladimir region.
The journey through the Museum of Nature in Vladimir begins on the street, when, following the entrance doors, visitors pass along the corridor from blocks of limestone. How many millions of years have passed before giant lime formations are formed from organic matter and shell rock under the influence of various natural processes! Visitors from the doors are prepared to think about the duration of creative processes in nature and the speed of destructive ones.
Then landscapes and artifacts from the ice age appear, the vertical ice wall of a huge quarry hangs. So it was on Earth once. Awareness of how many millions of years have passed and the geological epochs have changed, while life appeared on the planet, gradually comes to everyone.
The Tree of Life
A composition was created in the center of the hall, bearing the main semantic load, which the creators of the Vladimir Museum of Nature are trying to convey to visitors. It is dedicated to the Sun, Earth and the tree connecting the two planets to ensure life. Roots hug the Earth’s surface, the trunk rises to the sky, and the branches stretch to light and energy, without which life is simply impossible. The composition calls for protecting the “tree” and taking care of it.
Nature around us
The journey continues through the halls of the Museum of Nature in Vladimir, in which the organization of natural corners is thought out to the smallest detail. Even the fencing of the exposition is not made with columns with stretched ribbons, but in the form of curved, close in flexibility to natural, plastic lines, which, without distracting visitors from the main exposition, emphasize the naturalness of the exhibition.
The tour is accompanied by sound effects, when the guide approaches a window, you can hear the birds singing, the buzzing of a bee or the growling of a bear. That's just a couple of large "clubfoot" grappled in a fierce battle. Law of nature: the winner gets the territory. And here is the beaver dam, a complex structure, which man will envy. A female peeps out of a wolf hole in a swamp. She had to feed the wolf cubs, and the local inhabitants were wary ...
The abundance of effigies of large animals and birds does not interfere with seeing and appreciating small animals, insects and plants. The design used technical means to combine small and large details in one panorama.
Traveling in the Vladimir region continues from corner to corner, habitats, seasons are changing, someone will recognize familiar places. The tour is supported by a demonstration of video sketches from the life of nature. All together helps to feel the complexity and beauty of the world around us, there is an understanding of the need to preserve this.
“Touching your hands is a must!”
After completing the story with a guide or an independent trip to the Museum of Nature in Vladimir, you can visit the Forest School, whose motto is put in the heading of the paragraph. Here is a closer acquaintance with the life just seen. But at the same time, you can touch everything with your hands, smell, even try to make a discovery. At least for myself. You, and especially your child, will certainly get pleasure from such a trip.
Master classes for children and adults are held here, and children from nearby schools and kindergartens come here.
The main idea that all visitors from the museum take away is simple: the conservation of nature on Earth, and therefore of man, as part of it, depends on you and me.
Opening hours of the Museum of Nature in Vladimir: on weekdays from 10-00 to 17-00, on weekends from 10-00 to 16-00. The day off is Monday. A sanitary day is the last Thursday of the month.