Fersman Mineralogical Museum is one of the largest mineral museums of the world, located in Moscow, Russia. Its collections include more than 135,000 items. Among them natural crystals, geodes, druses and other kinds of mineral treasures. The museum was named after Alexander Fersman.

History

Early history

The museum was founded in 1716 in Saint Petersburg. On 5 December 1747 a great fire destroyed virtually the whole collection. In 1836 the Kunstkamera was divided into 7 separate museums, including Mineralogical museum which was moved to the new building. In 1898 the museum was expanded and renamed the Geological museum.

In Moscow

Museum was moved from Petersburg to Moscow in 1934 together with the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Collections

All museum acquisitions since 1716 were divided at the beginning of 20th century by the academician Vladimir Vernadsky to 5 main collections:

Directors