It has been decades since museums, along with books and theatre, were foretold to cease to exist. COVID-19 has indeed contributed to the debate regarding the "things of the past".
The Hall is home to an exhibition of unique items donated to the Mining Museum by prominent domestic and foreign figures.
On display are items made of traditional Russian gems, a collection of miniatures made of precious stones and metals by the Carl Faberge company, and award weapons.
Historical safes contain unique nuggets of gold, silver and platinum, items from the collections of members of the imperial family, as well as a large transparent gem-quality beryl crystal, donated by Emperor Nicholas I, weighing more than two and a half kilograms.
Of particular note is the collection of agates and amethysts from the deposits of Brazil and Mexico, donated by the Italian collector Primo Rovis.
Acquaintance with the mineralogical collection of the Mining Museum starts at the General Mineralogy Hall. The Hall's exposition was conceived and is still in use in the learning process as an introduction to mineralogy demonstrating the basic concepts of science.
The properties of minerals, peculiarities of their structure, the processes of nucleation, growth, changes in mineral individuals and aggregates - it all can be seen here. The following phenomena may be observed: dissolution, regeneration, deformation, twinning, the formation of pseudomorphisms, etc.
The Main Collection of Minerals contains more than 2,200 mineral types, about 55 thousand samples. Minerals are arranged according to their crystal-chemical classification. The collection geographically covers deposits located in almost all countries of the world.
An excellent guide to crystallography is the collection of natural crystals of 1250 specimens. That includes a unique quartz crystal weighing 500 kg from the Murzinka deposit (Ural), which was transferred to the Mining Museum from the State Cabinet in 1822.
The Malachite Hall got its name because of the world's largest chunk of malachite weighing 1504 kg installed in the central arched space, which was gifted by Empress Catherine II.
This Hall is an entry point to a systematic collection of minerals structured according to the crystal-chemical principle. Minerals are sorted based on the composition - starting with native elements and ending with hydroxides.
Among the class of natives, the most notable exhibits are natural samples of gold, platinum, silver, copper. Non-metallic minerals are also widely represented, which include samples of diamond, sulfur, graphite, quartz.
One of the exhibited items is the 852 kg copper nugget, the largest of those stored in Russian museums; it is called "Bear Skin" for its characteristic appearance.
Models of the largest Russian gold nuggets remind that during the time of the Russian Empire they were kept here, in the Mining Museum.
Continuing with the systematic collection of minerals, this Hall is home to a vast class of silicates. Samples of garnets and zircons are represented mostly by ores from the famous mines of the Urals.
Due to the size of samples and perfection of their crystals, one should pay particular attention to golden-green demantoids, bright green chromium-containing uvarovites, blood-red pyropes, black garnets (schorlomites), and a collection of phenakites.
The Column Hall retains its magnificent decoration from the 1820s, the time when its interior was created by the architect Alexander Postnikov.
The Hall continues with the systematic collection of minerals in the form of separate crystal-chemical groups: starting from simple salts and borates and ending with complex aluminosilicates and rare compounds.
Samples of Russian topaz and polychrome topaz from pegmatite deposits of Volyn are known for the perfection of their crystals and large sizes and deserve a particular mention.
Perfect forms are also a distinctive mark of emeralds and aquamarines of the Urals, Transbaikalia, Afghanistan and Brazil.
Many of the Hall's exhibits are also of historical value, such as a druse of rock crystal from Japan, presented as a gift by Emperor Alexander II, or a beryl crystal damaged by a German shell in the course of artillery attack during the Great Patriotic War.
The Hall exposition illustrates the links between mineral formation and various geological processes - from magmatic to supergene - through collections gathered from multiple deposits.
Among the presented exhibits are pegmatites of Murzinka, phlogopite veins of Slyudyanka, quartz deposits of the Subpolar Urals, skarn magnetite deposit in Dashkesan, and many others.
The exhibitions “Minerals of the Dalnegorsk ore field”, “Minerals of the Shkatulka deposit”, Lovozero, “Umbozersky mine” show different types of amber from various deposits.
The Hall exhibits items of decorative and applied art and jewellery made of malachite, lapis lazuli, rhodonite, charoite, labradorite, gypsum, marble, agates, rock crystal, amethyst, as well as of jade, agalmatolite, jet coal, and other ornamental stones.
Numerous works of stone cutters from three Russian cutting factories - St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, and Kolyvan - are featured.
A permanent exhibition of landscape stones is on display.
The collection of models can be traced back to 1773 when the Mining School was opened, with the primary purpose being to help Russian students in handling mining and engineering equipment.
The models were brought from the best European manufacturers and Russian factories, made in the workhouses of the Mining Institute and the Mint, delivered from both Russian and global industrial exhibitions.
Today, the collection represents the history of the development of the mining industry from the beginning to the present day.
The collection of art iron casting here is one of the most complete and interesting in its composition among domestic collections. It includes 125 exhibits made in the 19th – 20th centuries at the famous Russian foundries.
You can also see the works of NizhnyTagil, Satka, Gusev and Sintul plants, a collection of cast iron furniture of Kusinsky plant, which nowhere else in the world has been preserved in such a full set.
The regional and monographic collections of fossil flora and fauna are arranged in chronological sequence according to the geological period. The specimens showcase the geological record of our planet from the Neogene to the most ancient Archean deposits.
“Fossilization” and “Facies and Paleoecology” expositions supplement information on the development of Earth.
The extensive “Paleontology of Invertebrates” exposition contains more than three thousand fossil samples.
Collections of all classes of vertebrates - from jawless and fish to mammals - are arranged based on principles of modern taxonomy.
Samples on display include fossils, skeletons of ancient animals, their fragments and models.
The rarest exhibits include the skulls and horns of fossil rhinoceroses and the unique in size skeletons of an ichthyosaur and mystriosaurus.
The exposition presents samples that refer to the era of the formation of planet Earth and the entire solar system from primary matter.
Thematic showcases introduce visitors to meteor showers and astroblemes, i.e. traces of cosmic impacts on the Earth's surface.
The meteorite collection consists of all the main types: stone, iron, iron-stone. Altogether there are over 800 samples, thus making the exposition one of the world's most representative ones.
Among the exhibits are the stone meteorite Borodino, which fell on the eve of the Battle of Borodino into the disposition of the Russian troops, the diamond-containing meteorite Novy Urey, a “drop” of meteorite rain weighing 450 kg.
The expositions of the Hall are devoted to the internal structure of Earth and methods of its study, endogenous geological processes occurring in the depths, and exogenous ones which form the surface relief.
Presented samples reflect the activity of underground and surface waters, as well as of living organisms, weathering processes, tectonic movements of crustal blocks, and volcanism.
Particular attention should be paid to the core samples of the Kola superdeep well, which has fundamental scientific importance, as well as to ferromanganese nodules that emerge on the bottom of lakes, seas, oceans and are an alternative source of iron and manganese with significant industrial potential.
The Hall is home to samples of the most significant metallic, non-metallic and hydrocarbon fields both in Russia and abroad, and models of the Berezovsky gold deposit and the Ridder-Sokolny polymetallic deposit.
The exposition of the Hall is dedicated to St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region and is conventionally divided into two parts.
The first one presents samples of ornamental and facing stones used in the most famous architectural monuments and in building the subway. There is an exhibition of the most notable deposits of facing stone: marble and granite.
The second part of the exhibition is devoted to the geology of the Leningrad Region and surrounding territories, with the focus on showing the main stratigraphic units of the region, characteristic organic remains and fauna, mineral resources.
The Hall contains systematic collections of igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks from both Russia and other parts of the world. The exposition is based on the principle of genetic and chemical classification of rocks.
There are following collections on display: “Rock-forming minerals”, “Textures and structures of rocks”, “Kimberlites”, “Pegmatites”, and others.
The basis for the formation of the petrographic collection of taxonomy was laid by the samples of rocks purchased from the famous firm of Friedrich Krantz. The “Rocks from the Neighborhood of Naples” collection, which was handed over by Her Imperial Highness, Princess Elena Pavlovna in 1829, is of both scientific and historical value.
Articles showcase the Mining Museum's exhibits, with rarest minerals and metals, meteorite samples, working models of mining machinery and equipment, and palaeontological specimens among them.
Models and replicas of mining machinery and equipment were either made at Russian factories or commissioned to Europe's best masters. The collection features numerous models from the workshops of Schroeder, Geyer, Kler, and Freiberg University of Mining and Technology.
This is one of the world's oldest and Russia's most extensive collections. It includes samples of the legendary Pallas Iron and a fragment of the 'rain' that fell on L'Aigle back in 1803.
Biographies of distinguished Russian scientists. Their discoveries were put into practice and became recognised worldwide.
