RUSSIA
RU/RAS/ZIN
Situated in St. Petersburg on the Spit of Vasilievsky Island in the building on the corner of the Birzhevaya Square and Universitetskaya Embankment of the Neva River is the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. All St. Petersburgers are familiar from their childhood days with this building because it houses the Zoological Museum. However not everyone knows that the Museum is an exhibition part of the Zoological Institute: the most interesting part of the tremendous scientific collections of the institute is put on display in the museum. Not everyone knows that the Zoological Institute including the museum is one of the oldest scientific institutions in the city. In 2002 the institute will become 170 years old although history of establishment of collections at the institute and the museum began much earlier, i.e. since the time of Peter the Great, who purchased exhibits for the Kunstkammer, the first Russian museum established by him in 1714. Zoological specimens were added to the Kunstkammer collection after Peter the Great. Summary Provided By: http://www.zin.ru/about_e.htm