Institute of Geology of Komi Science Center of Ural Department of Russian Academy of Sciences (Syktyvkar, Russia):

Astakhova I. S., Junior Researcher of Geological Museum, e-mail : museum@geo.komisc.ru

National Museum was opened in 1911 and became one of the first cultural and educational institutions in Komi Krai. Ethnographic and paleontological models, collected by the researchers of the region, became the basis of the Museum. Nowadays, the main fund of the museum includes over 50 thousand exhibits. Natural science way in museum collections and expositions was widely developed in 1930-s. The possibility of collection of geological information appeared together with intensive mastering of northern territories, due to the work of various expeditions. Rocks, ores and minerals, collected by geologists, became the basis of creation of various geological museums of Komi Republic. Nowadays, Geological Museum of Institute of Geology of Komi Science Center of Russian Academy of Sciences, created in 1968, is the main center of concentration of mineralogical information about European North East of Russia. The museum funds account 165 exhibits and characterize the mineral resources base of Northern, Nether-Polar and Polar Ural, Timan, Pay-Khoy and north-eastern part of East-European platform. Complex of natural-history museums of Komi Republic, created by the work of scientists and specialists, describes the history of research and mastering of subsoils of European North-East of Russia. Visitors of this complex of museums can personally see the results of operation of various scientific and industrial geological organizations.

1. Plyakin A. M., Ievlev A. A. Istoriya geologicheskikh muzeev Ukhty (Respublika Komi) (History of geological museums of Ukhta (Komi Republic)). Sovremennye tendentsii v razvitii muzeev i muzeevedeniya : materialy Vserossiyskoy nauchno-prakticheskoy konferentsii (Modern tendencies in development of museums and museography : materials of All-Russian scientific and practical Conference). Novosibirsk, 2011, pp. 380-384.
2. Zemlya devstvennykh lesov (Pechoro-Ilychskiy biosfernyy zapovednik) (Land of virgin forests (Pechora-Ilych biosphere reserve)). Under the editorship of A. Anufriev. Syktyvkar, 2000, 159 p.