Have you been to the Museum of Nature in Kharkov? This is an amazing cultural institution, which is not in every city. It is worth visiting if you are at least for an hour in a beautiful and friendly city. And we will try to examine in more detail the Museum of Nature in Kharkov in order to learn everything about it in absentia.
How it all began?
To begin with, the State Museum of Nature of Kharkiv National University. V. Karazin is one of the oldest museums in Europe. In 1806, Count Potocki purchased from Gruner, a Hanover pharmacist, a small collection of foreign items collected by Prof. Andre for a quality learning process. A year later, he acquired another collection - a zoological one, the collector of which was the Italian Chetti. It was represented by a series of amazing shells of mollusks, corals, insects, birds, minerals and fossils. These two collections came to the city of Kharkov on April 2, 1807, so this date is considered to be the starting point of the existence of the museum. Count Potocki paid 39,200 rubles for both collections.
History
The Museum of Nature in Kharkov for a long time used the two above-mentioned collections for training sessions. They became the basis for the study of natural sciences. The professor of botany F. Delavin became the first keeper of the zoological collection, and the mineralogical collections were deposited with the professor of chemistry Schnaubert. Incidentally, he arrived to work at the university from Germany on the personal recommendation of I.-V. Goethe - a member of the Kharkov Imperial University. Over the years, names changed, and various learned people became teachers. Among them it is worth noting the following: I. Kalenichenko, A. Nikolsky, A. Maslovsky, N. Borisyak, A. Levakovsky, D. Sobolev and others.
Activities of Professor I. Krinitsky
The activities of this professor should be noted separately, since he made a huge contribution to the development of Kharkiv National University. V.N. Karazin and the Museum of Nature. In just 10 years (from 1826 to 1836) he managed to qualitatively improve the material base of the museum. During this time, the number of exhibits has increased almost 4 times. All collections were systematized, detailed catalogs appeared. A special laboratory was also created for the study, preparation and installation of all accumulated material. During the leadership of I. Krinitsky, the foundation was laid for the first scientific expeditions. The funds of the institution were significantly replenished through the purchase of various exhibits, mainly in Germany.
Present
To date, Kharkiv National University. It is hard to imagine V.N. Karazin without the Museum of Nature. The latter is an educational and scientific center of Ukraine.
23 halls are open for visitors, where you can see scientific exhibits from 4 departments: vertebrate and invertebrate animals, geological, nature conservation and the evolution of the organic world. Interestingly, the exhibits are shown not just in the form of collected collections. Here you can find spectacular artistic dioramas, which are decorated with modern audiovisual means, and biogroups. In total, the scientific funds of the Museum of Nature in Kharkov store about 250 exhibits. Everyone can admire them.
Museum of Nature (Kharkov): opening hours
What is important for visitors is that you need to register in advance. The museum is open to visitors from 8:30 to 16:30. He works every day during these hours, except for one day off - Sunday. Foreign visitors should be aware that excursions are conducted not only in Russian and Ukrainian, but also in English. Theoretical material is presented very capaciously and concisely, contains 16 topics.
And now the address of the Museum of Nature (Kharkov): Trinklera Street, 8. For an appointment, you should contact the organizational department of the museum.
You can visit the museum alone and in small groups. Maximum - 15 people. Most often, such groups are formed on weekends, and schools and kindergartens use group visits to the Museum of Nature in Kharkov. Ticket price - 300 UAH. regardless of age and time of visit. The cost is divided by the number of people in the group, so it is very beneficial to visit the museum on weekends or in a large company of like-minded people.
Departments
The invertebrate department presents unique collections of corals, spiders, mollusks, butterflies, etc. The scientist and traveler N. Miklouho-Maclay transferred glass sponges to the museum, which he collected in 1873 on the Philippine Islands. Here you can also look at the collection of the state adviser D.A. Donets-Zakharzhevsky, which has about 20 thousand species of beetles.
The mineralogical department is represented by more than 25 thousand exhibits. All collections are systematized, so they are divided into typical minerals, samples of ornamental and precious stones, minerals from various deposits from around the world. Here you can admire Florentine marble, malachite ore, rock crystal crystal weighing 100 kg, meteorites.
The vertebrate collection department occupies 1200 m 2 . The visitor has the opportunity to see almost all the largest vertebrates of the world fauna. What impresses every viewer is the spectacularity of the exhibits and their scale. About 30 dioramas exhibit collections of amphibians, fish, and reptiles. The audience will be amazed by a diorama called "Amazon", which shows live representatives of the ichthyofauna. The skeleton of a whale, which is 20 meters long, will also attract attention. The dioramas “Far Eastern pinnipeds” and “Bird Market” are very bright and impressive.
In the department of nature conservation and the evolution of the organic world, you can learn about the basic principles of the historical development of the organic world from the most ancient times to the forms of life that we know today. Much attention is paid to the role of the environment in the process of evolution. It is worth noting that this department of the museum owns the largest collection of primates in Ukraine. It began to be created back in the 19th century, when the zoological collection of Count Potocki appeared in the university. The most valuable exhibits of this collection are the oldest.
Summing up the article, it should be said that the Museum of Nature in Kharkov is an informative, interesting and spectacular place that must be visited by everyone who loves nature. It is very important to visit the children here. After a visit, they will understand how strong and diverse the flora and fauna is.