MOSCOW, October 1 – Novosti, Svetlana Baeva. Feel the whole gamut of emotions in 45 minutes, learn a lot about goats, immerse yourself in the traditional life of the Khanty and Mansi, go down into the permafrost to keep warm – all this can be done in the museums of Russia. Many are based on the enthusiasm of the creators, but are already known throughout the country. About the most unusual projects – in the material of Novosti.
From beasts to Freud
In St. Petersburg, in addition to the Hermitage or the Kunstkamera, you can visit, for example, the not so popular “Bestiary”. Guests there enter the world of fantastic creatures and incredible monsters. The Museum of Cryptozoology, created thanks to the archaeologist, Doctor of Historical Sciences and Professor Wayland Tiberius Harrowstone, is divided into four spaces.
The rules for guests are strict: children under 12 years old are allowed only with adults, you can’t run and make noise, as well as touch the beasts. The main thing – go along the path and do not be afraid of anything!
Permafrost Museum in Igarka
Permafrost Museum in Igarka
Museum of Funeral Culture
Cocktail recipes by Venedikt Erofeev
Motorcycle at Mu Mu Garbage Museum
A room at the Mu Mu Garbage Museum
Robot and motorcycle at Mu Mu Garbage Museum
Adults will be interested in the Northern capital and the Museum of Dreams of Sigmund Freud. There are two halls: introductory and dreaming, light and dark. Between them are Freud’s ten famous night dreams in the drawings of Pavel Pepperstein. In a dark room, you can even project your dreams.
And definitely for adults only, the Pink Rabbit Erotic Museum. One of the largest explicit expositions in the world is collected here – from the first “Kama Sutra” to the prototypes of modern sex machines. By the way, it works around the clock.
Excursion in the dark
Both capitals have a Museum of Emotions. There are no exhibits as such, rather art objects created by the artist – the author of this idea. Now psychology is in vogue, and the seven basic emotions are the basis of understanding yourself.
Theories are at least, but all the “exhibits” can be touched, beaten and even stroked.
Unusual sensations will be presented by the museum “Walk in the Dark”. Tours are conducted by blind and visually impaired guides.
“It is very useful to understand how such people feel,” says Alexander Vvedensky, a visitor. “There are three rooms in the museum, and in total darkness you wander first around the “apartment”, then along the “street” and even the “bar”.
According to him, it is very difficult to do familiar things by touch: “For example, you pick up vegetables and do not understand what you are holding. Smells change if you do not see the object.”
There is also a creepy Museum of Dead Dolls in Moscow. Each monster has its own sad or sinister story. For example, Clarabelle, who makes boys fall in love with her and then paralyzes them. Or the Indian beauty Makta, who they wanted to burn alive with her dead husband.
Office of the Mouse King and accordion boots
Around the capital – within 250 kilometers – there is also a lot of interesting things. For example, the famous Mouse Museum in Myshkin. There are exhibits from France, England, Germany, USA, India, Singapore, Japan.
Pereslavl-Zalessky is famous for small museums. There is also an exposition of teapots, and irons, and peasant design. There is a Museum of cunning and ingenuity. It is also worth visiting the one dedicated to the endemic of Lake Pleshcheyevo – the vendace fish.
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Museum “Kingdom of vendace”
© Photo: provided by the Museum “Kingdom of the Ryapushka”
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Museum “Kingdom of vendace”
© Photo: provided by the Museum “Kingdom of the Ryapushka”
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Museum “Kingdom of vendace”
© Photo: provided by the Museum “Kingdom of the Ryapushka”
Tula is famous not only for the oldest Museum of Weapons in Russia, but also for the collection of accordions. The city is the birthplace of this musical instrument. In the museum “Grandfather Filimon’s Harmony” you can see the longest and smallest harmonica – the size of a palm. And also the most sonorous, most carved and even playing boot.
You can’t answer for a goat
One of the most interesting Russian museums is located in Tver. It is dedicated to a goat – this animal, by the way, is an unofficial symbol of the city. And the tour of the founder, historian Vladimir Lavrenov is a whole show.
For example, he claims that the word “goat” was considered a compliment in ancient times. The museum has a lot of items whose names are associated with this artiodactyl: beer, tools, a car, a mushroom. Here they will tell you that a motorcycle (riding on the rear wheel) and even an airplane (bouncing off the runway) can “goat”.
Horned animals are on the coats of arms of many cities, not only Russian ones. The role of this beast is also great in mythology: both Pan, and the devil, and the scapegoat. The book of the founder of the museum tells how winemaking was opened thanks to the artiodactyl. By the way, all guests with the surname Kozlov are admitted free of charge.
You can touch everything
Near Borovsk is the Museum of garbage “Mu Mu”, which is generally dedicated to ecology. For example, there is a dress made from defective condoms, a Ying-long dragon made from tires, tubes and hoses. And art objects collected from what used to be in landfills.
In Kolomna there is an unusual “Artkommunalka”: its exposition is connected not only with the existence of several families in one living space, but also with literature. The famous writer Venedikt Erofeev used to visit here – he lived in this city and worked as a loader in the wine and vodka department of the Ogonyok store.
“We can walk everywhere, open wardrobes, try on clothes, touch everything,” says employee Oksana. Quests are being held in Kommunalka: guests are allocated a room, the task is to prevent sharing.
“Forbidden Zone” and Yelets Ostrog
In Uglich there is a “Forbidden Zone” dedicated to prison creativity. Amazing bread crafts are shown here: lacquered figurines based on casein glue from book spines. There are “marochki” – the so-called drawings on the sheets. You can also get into the camera.
And in Yelets there is the Jail Museum, which is really located on the territory of the federal state institution “Prison No. 2”. It is not easy to get there, you need to contact the leadership of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia for the Lipetsk Region and obtain a special permit. The building was built according to a standard project approved by Nicholas I in 1830, so the exposition shows the life of prisoners from different eras.
In Tobolsk there is a whole prison castle. This is a complete tourist attraction. It’s easy to get inside, moreover, you can even spend the night there in a hostel with rooms a la cameras.
From death to life
The Museum of World Funeral (Memorial) Culture is located in Novosibirsk. It was created ten years ago by the founder of a local crematorium based on a personal collection.
It all started with engravings on the theme of the funeral. “Then the collection began to be supplemented with copies of mourning dresses and jewelry,” says Tatyana Yakushina, director of the museum.
There is also a reconstruction of unusual coffins. For example, African ones are brightly decorated, similar to huge toys. They were made by a master from Ghana. There are coffins-houses – rural from a single piece of wood. Another unusual exhibit is a motorcycle hearse.
You can also go to the Novosibirsk Museum of Happiness. It was founded by Irina Nekrasova and Yuri Dremin, musicians of the author’s duet “Sunny Rain”. The exposition includes guardian angels, amulets, amulets, talismans, folk dolls, “lucky tickets”.
Bask in the permafrost
In the Museum of Nature and Man, in the village of Russkinskaya not far from Kogalym, you can get acquainted with the traditional way of life of the Khanty and Mansi, learn how to make national dolls or paint the skin. Local pride is a unique collection of stuffed animals. The animals turned out to be alive thanks to the director, Alexander Yadroshnikov. Not a single animal was killed on purpose.
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Russian Museum of Nature named after Yadroshnikov
© Photo courtesy of Andrey Belavin
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The sacred head of a bear in the museum in the village of Russkinskaya, Surgut district
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Russian Museum of Nature named after Yadroshnikov
© Photo courtesy of Andrey Belavin
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The sacred head of a bear in the museum in the village of Russkinskaya, Surgut district
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Russian Museum of Nature named after Yadroshnikov
© Photo courtesy of Andrey Belavin
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The sacred head of a bear in the museum in the village of Russkinskaya, Surgut district
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Russian Museum of Nature named after Yadroshnikov
© Photo courtesy of Andrey Belavin
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In Igarka (Krasnoyarsk Territory) there is the Museum of Permafrost. It was founded back in 1965 on the site where there was a scientific laboratory. Numerous corridors and halls at a depth of up to 14 meters, ice samples preserved by nature of larch, which are about 36 thousand years old, are very interesting here.
Paradox: although the museum is dedicated to permafrost, the climate is maintained at minus five degrees. So in the depths of the ice it is often warmer than outside. After all, the average temperature in Igarka is minus 6.4, and in winter it reaches minus 55.
