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Address:
Vanemuise 46, Tartu 51014, Vanemuise 21, Tartu 51014
Opening Hours:
Wed-Sun 10-16
Contact:
loodusmuuseum@ut.ee
Phone: +372 7376076 or +372 7376077
Links:
Tartu Ülikooli loodusmuuseum
University of Tartu
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Description:
The Natural History Museum is a new unit that consists of the former Museums of Zoology and Geology and the collections of botany and mycology of the Faculty of Biology and Geography. The formation of the Museum of Natural History was carried out in 2005.
Part of the Geology Museum`s collection can be traced back to the early 19th century, when the Cabinet of Mineralogy/Geology was established. At the present time the total number of items in the Museum of Geology is more than 80 000. The collections are mainly from Estonia and former Soviet Union but the mineral and rock collections are partly of worldwide origin. One of the largest donations in recent years was in 2001 when a German amateur geologist Beil handed over a considerable collection of minerals and rocks largely from West Europe. There are five main subdivisions of the museum's exhibition:
1. The Geology of Estonia (stratigraphy and palaeontology of the bedrock and the Quaternary deposits);
2. General Palaeontology;
3. The System of Mineralogy;
4. The Meteorites;
5. Mineral resources of Estonia.
UT Museum of Zoology is the biggest and oldest of its kind in the Baltics. Founded in 1822 it aimed to collect samples of world animal life to illustrate the courses at the University of Tartu. Nowadays it houses a 500 000 item collection of invertebrates and vertebrates, out of which 5000 are presented in the three big exhibition halls of the Museum. Especially rich are collections of birds, insects and molluscs, collected for the most part in Estonia.
The Botanical Museum includes herbaria that are not on display. Its main task has been to manage the herbaria and create access to researches. The herbaria include materials collected from Estonia as well as from America, Australia, Europe and the former Soviet Union.
Further Reading:
150 aastat TRÜ Zooloogiamuuseumi. Tartu, 1972;
TRÜ Zooloogiamuuseumi ekskursioonijuht. Compiled by I. Heidemaa. Tartu, 1981;
Kukk, T., Eesti soontaimede herbaariumid – hetkeseis ja perspektiivid, in: Rukkilill, 1997 (5), pp. 4-17;
Pani, T., Isakar, M., About the History and Collections of the Museum of Geology, University of Tartu, Estonia, in: Hoch, E., Brantsen, A. K. (eds), Centenary of the present edifice of the Geological Museum, Copenhagen University, København 1993, pp. 71-72;
Saag, A., Randlane, T., Suija, A., Lichenological collections in TU, in: Folia Cryptogamica Estonica, 1998 (32), pp. 81-84;
Saag, A., Randlane, T., Lichenological collections and relevant databases in the University of Tartu, in: Llimona, X., Lumbsch, H. T. & Ott, S. (eds). Progress and problems in lichenology at the turn of the millenium – IAL4. Bibliotheca Lichenologica, 2002 (82), pp. 285-290.
On herbaria see more at http://www.botany.ut.ee/.
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