People living in this northern region take care of their amazingly rich nature. In 1983, a regional museum was opened in Ulan-Ude, which is the only environmental and educational museum of nature throughout Siberia and the Far East.
The main mission of the Museum of Nature of Buryatia in the city of Ulan-Ude is to educate the population in terms of ecology.
General information about Buryatia
The republic occupies the southern part of Eastern Siberia. It is located along the eastern coast of Lake. Baikal also has an elongated shape in the direction from the northeast to the southwest. In the south it borders with Mongolia, and in the east and west, respectively, with the Chita and Irkutsk regions.
For comparison, it should be noted that the area of Buryatia (351 thousand sq. Km) is almost the same as that of Germany. The native inhabitants are Buryats, but the largest numbers are Russians.
It’s not just that it was in this corner of Siberia that the Museum of Nature of Buryatia was created (photo further in the article). One of the most beautiful regions of Eastern Siberia is a delightful land of steppes and mountains. The nature of these places is very diverse. The beauty of the magnificent Lake Baikal wonderfully combines with the snowy peaks of the majestic Sayan mountain ranges, with wide rivers and with the vast expanses of taiga forests.
It is also important to note that the territory of this republic accounts for the bulk (approximately 60%) of the shoreline of Lake Baikal - the largest freshwater lake on Earth with the status of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This is a unique water ecosystem with a special and peculiar nature management regime.
A brief history of the creation of the Museum of Nature of Buryatia in Ulan-Ude
The Environmental Education Museum is located in the former Public Assembly House, a historic two-story building built by Austrians (prisoners of war) during the First World War.
The decree of the Ministry of Culture of the RSFSR on the creation of the Museum of Nature was issued in mid-February 1978, and in 1983 it was opened on the basis of the nature department of the museum of local lore (Verkhneudinsk). He joined the National Cultural Institution “National Museum of the Republic of Belarus” in 2011.
The Nature Museum of Buryatia is part of the Open Museum association, whose main mission is environmental education.
Museum features
The area of the museum:
- exhibition part - 650 square meters. meters;
- fund storage - 62 sq. m. meter;
- halls of temporary exhibitions - 58 square meters. meters.
In total, the number of storage units is 16,000, of which 6437 are items of the main fund. The average annual number of visitors is 60,500 people. The number of museum employees is 35, including 13 scientists.
Expositions and events
The collections of the Buryatia Museum of Nature are divided into 7 storage groups: paleontology, geology, botany, zoology, diagrams and paintings, slides and photos. It also conducts research on a variety of topics.
The exposition is located in five rooms and composed by the landscape method using a very original architectural and artistic solution. The main theme is “Man and nature”, which perfectly reflects the natural wealth of Buryatia, protection, as well as the relationship between two components of life: the natural environment and man. The central theme is the unique Lake Baikal. More than 20,000 exhibits located in the spacious halls of the Museum of Nature of Buryatia tell about the magnificent nature, diversity and richness of mineral resources, the amazing fauna and flora, as well as the uniqueness of the greatest Baikal.
As experience has shown, the variety of events and exhibitions created by the employees of this institution is practically inexhaustible. The museum holds annual scientific conferences (one or two) and environmental events, lectures are given, and sightseeing tours are made. There are competitions, exhibitions (about 30) and interesting children's meetings. The latter include the following activities: classes in the children's laboratory “Window into the Nature”, thematic excursions, performances of the museum's own theater “Soul of Baikal”, traveling exhibitions “Visiting Eroshka” and many others. other
The Museum of Nature of Buryatia is the winner of the competition entitled “A Changing Museum in a Changing World”.
Separate exhibits of the museum
The most interesting museum fund items:
- stuffed black crane;
- stuffed bustard;
- golden eagle egg;
- stuffed cat manula;
- stuffed cormorant;
- stuffed little golomyanka (or golomyanka Dybovsky);
- stuffed black vulture;
- effigy of the famous Przhevalsky horse;
- stuffed black stork;
- fragments of the skeleton of a mammoth.
Reviews
The Nature Museum of Buryatia, according to visitors' reviews, leaves a lot of positive emotions. The expositions of the museum fund allow you to better learn about the incredible wealth and nature of the region. Excursions for kids and schoolchildren are especially informative.
The beautiful large layout of Lake Baikal is quite impressive. Indescribable effect is achieved thanks to the original illumination from the inside. It seems that the view of the reservoir opens from space.
The overall rating of most visitors is an old, kind, very informative and interesting museum. Today it is not only a repository of valuable scientific and natural collections, but also one of the centers of environmental education of the younger generation, the promotion of environmental knowledge, as well as the most visited place by tourists and guests of the whole republic.
How to get to the Museum of Nature of Buryatia? Address: st. Lenin, 46. You can get there by public transport or by taxi. The following significant places of the city are located nearby: in 105 meters of the Sibir shopping center, in 171 meters of the Barguzin hotel, 380 meters of Sovetov Square.
A little about some of the natural wonders of the region
In order to educate children and adults of patriotism and love for the motherland, as well as respect for the natural environment, the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Republic held a competition "Seven Natural Wonders of Buryatia." During this event, everyone could vote for a favorite natural object. As a result, a wealth of information was collected about 621 natural sites of esthetic, ecological, historical, cultural and scientific value.
As a result, the inhabitants of the republic chose the most amazing natural wonders.
- Mount Barkhan-Uula, located in the Kurumkansky district.
- Mount Undar Baabay (territory of Zakamensky district).
- The gorge of the Alla River (territory of the Kurumkansky district).
- Lakes Slyudyanskie (Severobaikalsky district).
- Waterfall on the river. Shumilikha (Severobaikalsky district).
- Garginsky thermal springs (Kurumkansky district).
- Canyon on the river Jide (Sorgostyn Habsagay), located in Zakamensky district.
Finally
The museum’s peculiarity lies in the fact that the most valuable part of the collections is represented by natural samples collected in nature, and then undergoing certain processing and fixation for the purpose of long-term storage and further study.
It should be noted that an especially popular among visitors, in particular among children, is an interactive exhibition called "Journey into the world of water." The event is held in the hall, which is designed as an underwater vehicle "Mir". In the process of "immersion" to the most diverse depths of Lake Baikal, the youngest visitors learn the animal and plant life of the lake, "explore" the bottom of the reservoir and the outlets of numerous hydrothermal springs.