Meteorites from the collection of St Petersburg University are recognised as a value of global significance
The Mineralogical Museum of St Petersburg University has a rich collection of iron, stony-iron and stone meteorites. The collection includes over 75 specimens of utmost value found all over the globe in the 18th—20th centuries. According to the historical and cultural expert opinion, all exhibits were assigned the first category of value due to their uniqueness.
Among the exhibits of the museum there are fragments of the "Borodino" meteorite. It fell near the village of the same name on 5 September 1812, right on the eve of the famous battle. The collection also includes the "Pallas Iron" meteorite, internationally known as "Krasnojarsk". It was detected in 1749 near the village of Medvedkovo in the Yeniseysk Governorate and gave its name to the pallasites, a class of mixed-type meteorites.
To learn how the universe works
According to the Regulations on the State Catalogue of the Museum Fund of Russia, there are three categories of value when we speak of museum pieces. The first one includes cultural values of world significance and items made of precious metals; the second one includes cultural values of all-Russian significance; and the third one includes cultural values of regional significance. Svetlana Janson, Candidate of Geology and Mineralogy and Scientific Adviser of the Mineralogical Museum, compiled a historical and cultural expert opinion about the University’s collection of meteorites. The opinion was approved by Professor Aleksei Brusnitsyn, Head of the Department of Mineralogy at St Petersburg University. Based on this expert opinion, the employees of the Mineralogical Museum determined that those exhibits were worthy of the first category.
Meteorites are the only matter of space accessible to our direct study. That is why they are so unique. These are witnesses of the very first stages of the formation of the Solar System in general and the terrestrial planets in particular. This collection of the very first minerals can be referred to as the starting point of the mineralogical evolution of the Earth. These are sources of minerals that are not found on our planet.
Professor Aleksei Brusnitsyn, Head of the Department of Mineralogy at St Petersburg University
’For me, it is quite obvious that these stone objects of space with an age of over 4 billion years, having flown several hundred million kilometres, are of exceptional scientific and cultural value as the material substance of the Solar System,’ said Professor Brusnitsyn. ’The collection’s advantage in status makes it possible to study meteorites. Students and museum visitors can also get acquainted with these inconspicuous but very interesting objects. This is an opportunity to touch the substance of the Universe which is, figuratively speaking, a material embodiment of eternity.’
The Mineral Collection of the University traces its origins to the Cabinet of Natural History, which was established in 1785 for educational purposes and popularisation of knowledge. It was then that a collection of 371 samples was brought here. They were arranged according to the system of the Swedish mineralogist Johan Gottschalk Wallerius and described in the catalogue. Today, the exhibition of the Mineralogical Museum is composed of about 39,000 specimens. It is widely used in the modern educational process. The collection includes rare and unique minerals from the deposits of Russia, its neighbouring countries and beyond.