KUNSTKAMERA, Kunstkamera

The "Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography of the Russian Academy of Sciences", better known as the Kunstkamera, was the first public museum to be opened in Russia.

The building was designed by Georg Johann Mattarnovy, in a mix of architectural styles typical of Northern Europe that Tsar Peter the Great was so fond of that it became known as Petrine Baroque. Work began in 1719, and the complex was completed in 1727.

Peter the Great had the complex built to display his Kunstkamera, or "cabinet of curiosities". The literal meaning of the German term is "room of art", but during the 18th century it was used to indicate the private collections of nobles.

The tsar's collection - comprising a collection of objects that were truly curious, and originally kept in the Summer Palace - began with the acquisition of a number of disturbing finds such as deformed fetuses and animals with anatomical defects, which Peter had first seen in 1697, during a visit to Holland.

 It was here that the tsar purchased many of the objects from the pharmacist Albertus Seba and the anatomist Frederik Ruysch, and these pieces formed the nucleus of the Academy of Sciences. Other pieces were purchased from Jacob de Wilde, a collector of gemstones and scientific instruments. In 1716, Peter further expanded his collection with 1195 minerals bought from Dr. Gotvald of Gdansk and others from Russia.

The museum currently boasts a collection of some two million of the most interesting pieces from all over the world, also comprising the original collections of Peter the Great.

Let me leave you with an interesting fact: The tsar is said to have purchased this strange collection to prompt the medical community to study deformities and to discourage prejudice against people affected by them, who at the time were defined as monsters. He also issued a decree ordering that deformed fetuses from all over the country be sent to the imperial collection; they were then exhibited in the Kunstkamera as examples of accidents of nature. He even promised visitors to the museum free vodka to encourage them to learn about natural curiosities such as sheep with two heads and conjoined twins.