One of the largest in Moscow is the State Darwin Museum, which was opened in 1907, more than 100 years ago. It was one of the earliest natural science institutions in Europe, dealing with nature, the origin of man and his evolution.
Museum Founder
Before we start talking about what the State Darwin Museum is at 57 Vavilov Street, we should mention its founder, A. F. Kots. He was a scientist, professor, doctor of biological sciences, educator and museologist.
Alexander was born in 1880 in a German family that emigrated to Russia. The future zoologist chose this profession for a reason, because his father Alfred Karlovich was a doctor of philosophy, a botanist, a linguist and a poet. From an early age, the younger Coats studied science and already in his youth did not think about which path to choose for himself.
Already at the age of 19, Alexander went on his first expedition to Western Siberia, from where the collection of the future museum began to be created. Becoming a successful taxidermist was also helped by acquaintance withfamous zoologist Fyodor Lorenz. Their friendship ended only when Friedrich died in 1909. It was very important for Alexander to preserve not only his collection, but also the one that had been created in his friend's laboratory for 40 years. And Kots suggested that the heirs make him a financial director, and pay a salary in the form of stuffed animals, which later became exhibits of the future museum.
History
The initiator of the creation was the zoologist A. F. Coates, who began teaching a course on evolutionary teaching in a women's apprentice course, but used illustrative examples such as stuffed animals. The visual material was a personal collection of the scientist, which he donated in 1913 to the Zoological Laboratory of the Courses. Gradually, it accumulated and became known as the Museum of Evolutionary Theory. By this time, the composition of the founders was determined, among which was not only A. F. Kots, and also F. E. Fedulov (who was an equally good taxidermist), V. A. Vatagin (animal sculptor, professor) and N. N. Ladygina-Kots (student, future scientist).
It was in the same year that the wedding of Alexander and Nadezhda Ladygina took place, who at that time was a third-year student of the Moscow Higher Women's Courses, and in the future became a famous zoopsychologist.
The young couple traveled abroad several times to acquire new exhibits, they wrote scientific papers, created sculptures, paintings and conducted scientific research. During the years of the revolution and civil war it was very difficult, cold and hungry, butemployees did not interrupt their work.
Only by 1922, the institution received the official name of the State Darwin Museum in Moscow.
Kots sought to show exposure to anyone and everyone by propagating evolutionary teachings. For more than 30 years, more than half a million people have been able to visit the museum. Over the years, such a collection has gathered that it began to resemble a vault, but many years passed before a new building was built and opened. Only in 1995 the doors of a new, additional complex opened and the dream of the founder of the State Darwin Museum came true. For 40 years, Kots remained the director of his "brainchild".
New building of the Darwin Museum
The new building was under construction for more than 20 years, and the opening took place in 1995. The exposition, which is located in this part, is connected with the theories of evolution, with heredity and variability, with the diversity of life on Earth.
The State Darwin Museum is one of the largest in Russia and is visited by millions of people every year. Here you can not only study the exhibits, but also choose the “Educational Guide”, which allows each visitor to independently familiarize himself with some section of science, which will make your stay even more interesting.
Exposures
The State Darwin Museum at 57 Vavilova has several permanent exhibitions spread over three floors.
On the ground floor there is a tour desk, as well as a small cinema hall with 185 seats. Next comes the exhibition "History of the Museum", whichpresented in photographs and documents, as well as the exhibition "The Diversity of Life on Earth", where you can see live exhibits of tarantulas.
On the second floor there are the following halls - "Microevolution" and "Stages of the knowledge of wildlife", as well as recreation, where temporary exhibitions are held periodically.
On the third floor, everyone can see the "Macroevolution" exposition and the zoogeography hall, where wildlife is recreated in glass showcases.
In addition to the main building, there is also an exhibition complex with a greenhouse, a training laboratory, a cafe, an interactive attraction and much more.
Exposition "The Descent of Man"
One of the most important halls, of course, is connected with the origin of man and his evolution.
The excursionist who visited this hall will get acquainted with the ancient man, his way of life, culture and stages of development. Here you can get acquainted with the point of view of naturalist Charles Darwin, who hypothesized that man descended from apes. Despite the fact that there were few facts, he was able in his book to show the similarity of humans and great apes in terms of physiological and ontogenetic characteristics.
In addition to the theory of Charles Darwin, you can get acquainted with the theory of Carl Linnaeus, which tells about the features of the detachment of primates, as well as monkeys and semi-monkeys. Offers State Darwin Museum photos, documents, drawings, whichcan clearly demonstrate how ideas have developed, researched and theories of the formation of the world have been proposed.
Further in this room, each evolutionary period of human development is considered in more detail:
- hominization;
- Australopithecines and a skilled man;
- archanthropes;
- paleoanthropes;
- neoanthropes, or Cro-Magnons.
Exposure about wildlife
In one of the halls you can see the exposition, which will tell you about how the formation of biology took place, that is, how living organisms developed. After all, man has always been interested in when plants and animals, bacteria and fungi appeared, and this can be seen from the rock paintings that the ancient man left.
Acquaintance with this exposition of the State Darwin Museum at 57 Vavilov Street begins with the scientist who was considered the founder of biology, namely the philosopher Aristotle. He tried to systematize his accumulated knowledge and pass it on to his descendants.
Then comes the era of the Middle Ages, where it was believed that the main thing is religion, and you should not know the world around you, all science was persecuted by the Inquisition.
The next important stage was the Renaissance, which was marked by the rapid development of science, when such areas as embryology, physiology, anatomy, systematics were born.
For a long time, until the 17th century, there was an opinion that flora and fauna are unchanged, but exactly as long as suchscientists, like N. Stenon and J. Cuvier, did not tell about what exhibits were found in the form of extinct forms of organisms during excavations.
Great attention in the exposition is paid to Lamarck, who proposed a consistent theory of evolution, considered the progressive development from simple to complex. However, the theory of Zh. B. Lamarck was not considered scientific because he could not prove his arguments.
The first scientific theory, which was considered evolutionary, was the theory of Charles Darwin. You can get acquainted with all the facts, evidence, documents and important events by visiting the permanent exposition.
State Darwin Museum (Moscow): address and how to get there
A popular natural science institution not only in Russia but also in Europe today is visited by millions of people: schoolchildren, students, adults and pensioners, foreigners and Russians. The State Darwin Museum is located on Vavilov, 57, it is very easy to get to it.
Firstly, you can come by private car, but in advance, familiarize yourself with parking places and find out about their cost. Secondly, you can choose public transport, including the metro. Get to the Akademicheskaya station and walk to Vavilov street or take bus number 119. Or to the station "Universitet" and then transfer to tram number 14 or number 39 to the stop "st. Dmitry Ulyanov.”
Museum opening hours
The State Darwin Museum at 57 Vavilov St. is open for everyone seven days a week from 10 am to 6 pmpm, except Monday. On Tuesday the exposition opens at 11.00 and closes at 19.00. It is also worth remembering that it is closed on the last Friday of every month and on January 1st. Before entering the museum, you should buy a ticket at the box office, which closes half an hour earlier, so the last visitors can enter at 17.30.
Ticket price
Before you get to the State Darwin Museum on 57 Vavilov Street, you should buy tickets at the box office, which is located on the ground floor. The ticket price for adults is 400 rubles, for schoolchildren, students and pensioners the cost is 100 rubles. Preschoolers, veterans, orphans, the disabled and children from large families can enter for free.
Separately, it is worth specifying the price for temporary expositions and exhibitions, as well as for excursion programs, where the cost will depend on the number of people in the group.
Activities for children at the State Darwin Museum
The most curious visitors, of course, are the children who often come here with their class, as well as with their parents. You can spend the whole day here, and the child will not get tired at all, but will want to come again.
A lot of activities have been invented for children, where they study insects, mushrooms, there is such an activity as studying animal traces, a sericulture lesson or an “Ecological trail”.
Separately, it is worth highlighting the lesson for children and parents "The World Under the Microscope", where you can see the environment, enlarged by severaldozens of times, observe the life of organisms that are not visible to the human eye, and learn how to work with a microscope.
What are the thematic classes:
- "Such a diverse microcosm", which will allow you to see organisms, study them in detail, after which you will understand that they simply cannot be confused, because they are all different.
- "Jaws of insects" - have you ever wondered how different jaws can be and why organisms are arranged this way?
- "Who lives under our feet" - how many organisms live in the soil, why nature created them, what do they look like?
Interesting events
By subway ride to the State Darwin Museum, head out to see interesting events and events that often take place both annually and as a temporary exhibition.
For example, March 22 is World Water Day, April 22 is International Earth Day, a very interesting event is October 17 - Leshy Day.
In the museum you can not only have fun, but also celebrate a child's birthday, which the child will remember for a lifetime. There are several programs for children of different ages and depending on the number of people in the group.
So, the program includes an interactive tour with different topics, tea drinking in a separate room and, if desired, an independent examination of the expositions and the passage of the labyrinth "Walk the path of evolution".
