About the Museum

The Kunstkamera (Russian: Кунсткамера, derived from German Kunstkammer lit. "art chamber") formally organized as the Russian Academy of Science's Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Russian: Музей антропологии и этнографии имени Петра Великого Российской академии наук, Muzey antropologii i etnografii imeni Petra Velikogo Rossiyskoy akademii nauk) - abbreviated in Russian as the МАЭ or МАЭ РАН; is a Russian public museum of science located on the Universitetskaya Embankment in Saint Petersburg, facing the Winter Palace. Its collection was first opened at the Summer Palace by Peter the Great in 1714 as Russia's first public museum. Enlarged by purchases from the Dutch collectors Albertus Seba and Frederik Ruysch, the museum was moved to its present location in 1727. Although most known for its "grotesques," the museum houses nearly 2,000,000 items, including materials from various non-Russian countries. The Kunstkamera is notable as a surviving example of Petrine baroque. Particularly notable is its Armillary Sphere, which crowns the spire.