Guest
“Hello, I am Polina Litiushkina. I want to tell you about the Darwin Museum. The State Darwin Museum was founded in 1907 by Doctor of Biological Sciences Alexander Kots. It is the world’s first museum dedicated to the theory of evolution, focusing primarily on the natural variation of animals. In the 1900s, he became interested in the teaching of Darwinism in European universities and visited natural history museums around Europe. Kots was inspired by what he found and believed that animal exhibits were no less useful for study than a library of books. The Darwin Museum was founded, and its collection organized according to evolutionary doctrine and accompanied with lecture programmes. The first floor exhibition is devoted to “Biological Diversity”. There are exhibits of animals representing the Earth’s great ecosystems. In the center of the gallery stand life-size reconstructions of some extinct animals. The second floor is devoted to “Microevolution”. This exhibition describes the basic principles of evolution and the process of formation of new species. The third floor is devoted to “Macroevolution”. “Macroevolution” has a number of sections. One is devoted to the origin and development of mankind from our primate ancestors of distant epochs to our present day selves; another explores mankind’s influence on nature throughout the ages. Since 1997 the museum is the head of the Association of Natural Science Museums of Russia. In 1997 the Darwin Museum received the status of the Methodological Center for Natural Science Museums. Today, the facility contains over 400,000 exhibits, including the unique ones like the world’s largest collection of birds and other animals with abnormal plumages or skin colors. The central hall is dominated by the dummies of the African elephant and giraffe that have long become the museum’s staple. In its expositions, the Darwin Museum makes extensive use of multimedia models. For example, to gain a better understanding of the Mesozoic Era, visitors can check out the mobile models of dinosaurs. The Darwin Museum hosts classes and tours both for kids and adults, discussion sessions with biologists, meetings with travelers and interactive shows. Thank you for your attention.“
