Kotelnich Paleontological Museum

About museum

In 1933 Sergey Grigorievich Kashtanov discovered the first two pareiasaur skeletons near Kotelnich. Since then regular excavations have been carried out in this region, resulting in the discovery of many fossil reptiles. In 1994 the Kotelnich Paleontological Museum was opened in Kotelnich, where you can see exhibits of immense scientific importance that are unique in the world. In 2011 the museum received a new exhibition composed of three-dimensional models and displays representing the diversity of animals and plants of the Permian period, including pareiasaurs, dicynodonts, predatory gorgonopsians and therocephalians. The museum also features a model of a pareiasaur made with lifelike proportions. Visiting the museum is an unforgettable journey into the distant past.