The Academy of Science

Today, my Russian hosts informed me and Ford of one of the most fascinating places in St. Petersburg: the Kunstkammer. I am always seeking to learn more of what the Russian Empire has to offer, and since my exploration of folktales had been rather exhausted, I decided to tour the intriguing museum of oddities and science. We found the museum right next to the Neva, across the river and slightly north of the great statue of Peter the Great.

View of the Kunstkammer across the Neva.

Apparently, the Kuntskammer is not only a museum of oddities established by Peter the Great over sixty years ago but also houses the Russian Academy of Science and Art (Shiryaev 225). Today, many of the most world-renown scholars study and experiment at the Kunstkammer making discoveries in every kind of science. They even have a journal they publish with their discoveries called "Acta Academiae Scientiarum Imperialis Petropolitanae" or "The Acts of the Academy" (Shiryaev 226).

All these things were made known to me by one Semyon Kirillovich Kotel'nikov, an "academician" and a curator at the Kunstkammer (Leonov 108). Ford and I arrived at the museum and were delighted when we were informed that no entry fee was necessary (The History of Kunstkammer). When I told the staff that I was hoping to write a guide of sorts to be published in England, they gladly fetched Semyon Kirillovich to give us a personalized tour and tell us of the history and current state of the Kunstkammer.

The museum houses thousands of curiosities gathered by Tsar Peter’s command. We toured the halls seeing jars of deformed beasts and unsettling phenomena, but additionally, we saw artifacts from all over the world, scientific, cultural, and artistic. Many stuffed animals were there for study as well as a botanical garden (Kuntskamera Museum Exhibitions, Level 2; Shiryaev 225). Semyon took us to some laboratories and library collections where we saw students and teachers taking advantage of the information available. Additionally, we were able to see the observatory that had burned down and been rebuilt. We found the director of the observatory, Rumovskii, and talked with him briefly, for he was very busy (Schulze 326).

Partway through the tour, I realized I hadn’t any idea who the director of the Academy of Science was. Semyon Kirillovich informed us that Princess Dashkova had recently been appointed head (Schulze 322). I had never heard of a female being in charge of such a thing, but I knew that our Tsarina Catherine was very intelligent and must have trusted Princess Dashkova enough to guide the Academy. Semyon Kirillovich praised the Princess for her leadership and said that though she had instituted some reforms, he saw them as beneficial for the Academy (Schulze 331).

I had many questions for our guide concerning the financial state of the Kunstkammer. Luckily, Semyon Kirillovich was privy to some of the policies. Apparently, Tsar Peter had wanted to ensure that the museum was able to continually add to its own growth and allotted a stipend for the acquiring of artifacts and oddities as well as books too (Leonov 109).  

Tsar Peter was very invested in the growth of the Academy of Science and Art. He seemed to have transplanted the ideas of the German and English academies right into Russia. When Peter planned the Academy of Science and Art, he wrote the guidelines called the Project (Schulze 307). Within it, he outlined what the academicians and directors of the Academy were to do. His plans detailed the branches of study the Academy would include,  mandated diligence in gathering information from all parts of the world, and declared the Academy not only a research institution but a teaching one (307-09). He gathered scientists from all over to come to St. Petersburg and study at his facility (Shiryaev 225). However, one of the most famous scientists who studies at the Russian Academy was Russian: Lomonosov (Schulze 311). Lomonosov has since died, but he contributed greatly to the scientific inquiry of chemistry, physics, geology, mineralogy, geography and astronomy (318).

Lomonosov is not the only great scientist who has graced the Academy. Scientists from Germany, Switzerland, and Prussia have also been housed here (Shiryaev 226). We didn’t run into many of these scientists while we were there but were privileged to sit in on a lecture by a Russian chemist name Sokolov (Schulze 319).

Soon, though fascinating the tour, our feet grew weary. I decided to return another day to the Kunstkammer to peruse its oddities and scientific wonders.

Works Cited: 

Leonov, V. P., et al. Libraries in Russia : History of the Library of the Academy of Sciences from Peter the Great to Present. De Gruyter, 2005. EBSCOhost,ezproxy.uvu.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=556516&site=eds-live.

Schulze, Ludmilla. “The Russification of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences and Arts in the Eighteenth Century.” The British Journal for the History of Science, vol. 18, no. 3, 1985, pp. 305–335., www.jstor.org/stable/4026383.

Shiryaev, A. N. "On the History of the Foundation of the Russian Academy of Sciences and about the First Articles on Probability Theory in Russian Publications." Theory of Probability & Its Applications, vol. 44, no. 2, June 2000, p. 225. EBSCOhost, ezproxy.uvu.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cph&AN=10664715&site=eds-live.

“The History of Kunstkammer.” Kunstkamera: Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography; Russian Academy of Sciences, www.kunstkamera.ru/en/history/the_history_of_kunstkammer/.

       "The First Pages in the History of the Academy of Sciences." Kunstkamera: Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography; Russian Academy of Sciences, http://www.kunstkamera.ru/en/history/encyclopedia_of_peters_kunstkammer/the_first_pages_in_the_history_of_the_academy_of_sciences/