Polytechnic Museum in Moscow
Moscow Polytechnic Museum is not just a place where outstanding technical models and discoveries are stored, but a blossoming oasis of knowledge, a catalyst of scientific and technological progress open to all. It houses more than 190,000 exhibits organized into 150 collections, and the museum library holds about 3.5 million books from a wide variety of fields of knowledge.
- General information
- History of the Polytechnic Museum
- Moscow Polytechnic: realities and prospects
- Expositions and projects
General information
History of the Polytechnic Museum
Moscow Polytechnic is one of the largest and at the same time the oldest museum complexes in the world. The idea of its creation belongs to the Imperial Society of Lovers of Natural History, Anthropology and Ethnography. The museum itself was opened only 9 years after the state treasury allocated money for the construction of the building. Initially it was conceived as a repository for exhibits of the Polytechnic Exhibition, held in the same year in honor of the bicentennial of the birth of Peter the Great. However, thanks to the enthusiasm of the founders, the original 9 expositions quickly grew and even new ones devoted to natural sciences appeared. The educated intelligentsia and aristocracy were drawn here like a magnet. The new museum quickly became a research center of the Russian Empire.
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Expositions and projects
“Russia Makes Itself” – VDNKh, pavilion “Transport”
This temporary exhibition consists of 7 interrelated sections telling about the key moments and promising directions of scientific and technical development of Russia. There are also holography and biohacking laboratories at VDNKh. In the first one children from 8 years old together with their parents can familiarize themselves with the history of holographic images and create their own unique hologram. In the second laboratory you can dive headfirst into the magical world of aromas: learn how they affect people, why some odors seem pleasant and soothing, while others irritate and can be simply unbearable.
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Open Funds – Technopolis “Moscow”
Due to repair work in the central building of Polytechnic, the bulk of the exhibits were temporarily “relocated” to the premises of the former AZLK near the metro station “Tekstilshchiki”. In 2014, the doors of the holy of holies – the storage of the museum’s funds – opened to the public. This is a unique opportunity to get acquainted with the everyday life of museum staff and exhibits waiting for their turn to be put on public display. Here you can see the first exhibits of the Polytechnic Museum, which appeared on its shelves in the distant 1872, and brand new technical developments, and even unique prototypes of robotics. Museum employees are eager to share interesting stories from the behind-the-scenes life of the collections, tell how the exhibits got here and how they are cared for. Also on the basis of Technopolis there are regularly held exciting contests, quizzes, lectures, adapted especially for schoolchildren.
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A peculiarity of the work of the “Open Foundations” is a mandatory pre-registration for a visit. This is due to the fact that tens of thousands of items in the museum’s collection require careful care and careful handling. Employees of Polytechnic spend a lot of time and effort to ensure that the valuables are preserved to the highest possible quality and can delight visitors for a longer time. You can look into the working storage on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday, to sign up for a tour – by phone or on the website.
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Polytechnic Museum-Educational Center – MSU
Children’s University and Science Fights
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The Moscow Polytechnic Museum initiated the creation of the University of Children and Scientific Fights. This university for “students” 6-13 years old functions on the basis of the most reputable educational institutions of Moscow, such as the Higher School of Economics and MPGU. Within the framework of classes young scientists attend adapted lectures of the best teachers of the capital, conduct experiments and learn the world of science and technology in practice. “Scientific battles” – an unusual project for young talents, the essence of which is that the participant must for 10 minutes to tell the audience about his experiment or discovery without the use of multimedia. Only the simplest visual examples can be used to provide information, which perfectly develops not only logic and accuracy, but also teaches to think abstractly and creatively, to find non-standard solutions.
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Also, the museum annually holds a large-scale festival of science and technology “Polytech” and a whole host of other entertaining and informative events, visiting which can not only leave pleasant memories, but also expand the scientific horizons of even the most intellectually savvy visitor.
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