PALEONTOLOGY MUSEUM NAMED AFTER YURI ORLOV
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Address:
Profsoyuznaya St., 123 |
The Paleontology Museum named after Yuri Orlov is
reckoned among the world largest natural-science museums. It originates
from the Kunstkammer ("curiosity chamber") established by
Peter the Great in Saint Petersburg. The Kunstkammer's collection was
comprised of all kind of rarities including teeth and bones of ancient
creatures found in different parts of the worlds. Later such exhibits
were kept at the Academy of Science and then were given over to the
Geological Museum.
The Museum's permanent exhibition dedicated to the
process of evolution on the Earth is housed in the unique museum complex
that has no analogs in the world. The project was developed specially
for the museum: for more than twenty years leading architects, engineers,
designers and animal painters worked on the building design. The red
brick building reminds of the old fortress with central inner yard,
around which there are four exposition zones with four adjoined towers.
The First Hall is rather introductory one and tells
about the paleontology as a science. The exposition of the Second Hall
tells about Precambrian and early Paleozoic and represents the first
forms of life that appeared on Earth, invertebrate species and their
evolution. The Forth Hall is dedicated to late Paleozoic and the beginning
of the Age of Reptiles. 
The Fifth Hall is especially popular with the visitors
as it tells about dinosaurs and treasures many skeletons of these extinct
creatures. In the last Six Hall various mammals and the unique fauna
of the Age of Mammals are represented. Practically all exhibits of the
Museum are original or reconstructed. They are remains of the ancient
organisms, skeletons of dinosaurs, first birds and mammals.
The special exhibition hall (the Third Hall) is dedicated
to the geological history of the place where nowadays Moscow and its
suburbs are located. Exhibits that are allowed to be touched witness
that 300 millions of years ago there were a warm sea settled by various
organisms on the place of the present busy megapolis.
The Paleontology Museum is loved by children who make
the majority of the visitors. Young visitors with great interest examine
giant skeletons of dinosaurs, fossil birds and large mammals. Wonderful
decoration of the halls makes the exposition interesting and comprehensible
even for small children. The Museum offers thematic excursions for the
children of the school age and regularly holds exhibitions of kids'
drawings.
