Fedorovsky Geological Museum

About museum

The Fedorovsky Geological Museum today preserves the spirit of late 19th-century geologists who, under the leadership of crystallography genius Evgraf Stepanovich Fedorov, explored the region's natural wealth. In the center of the hall stands a two-sazhen-long meeting table, around which are mineralogical cabinets that still hold tens of thousands of samples of rock material, thin sections, minerals, and rock specimens. The museum's furniture was made to order for E.S. Fedorov and E.D. Stratanovich in the local carpentry workshop of A.M. Ponomarev. From this hall a massive fireproof door leads to the archive room, where in 394 panels more than 3,500 maps, plans, cross-sections, field notebooks, and notes from geological surveys are stored. Here is also the museum's rich library (books, journals, brochures on natural sciences and history, dictionaries, reference works). The memory of the museum's founder is preserved by a memorial study with his personal study furniture and by special instruments and tools for investigating the internal composition of minerals and measuring crystal parameters (microscopes, stereographic rulers, 'Fedorov' tables). The museum gives special attention to N.A. Karzhavin, the author of the most brilliant discovery of the 20th century — the Bogoslovsko-Petropavlovsk bauxite province (the 'Krasnaya Shapochka' deposit). In the museum halls one can see remarkable collectible specimens of well-known Ural gemstones, rare crystals, minerals unusual in form and combination, and the best samples of ore and non-ore mineral deposits of the region. The mineralogical collection is complemented by a collection of items made from semi-precious stones. Part of the exhibition is devoted to paleontological finds. Over the years the geological museum has not only preserved the history of 19th-century geology but has continued to develop. The museum has recreated a unique chemical laboratory, a grinding workshop and core repository, and the workplace of senior grinding master Ivan Petrovich Tumashov. Above all, the museum conveys a sense of the invisible presence of its founders and staff: Auerbach, Fedorov, Nikitin, Stratanovich.