“State Museum of Nature of Kharkiv National University named after V.N. Karazin is one of the oldest museums in Europe. Shortly after the opening of the Imperial Kharkiv University in 1805, the trustee of the Kharkiv educational district, Count S. Potocki bought from the Hanoverian pharmacist Gruner a collection of foreign objects collected by Professor André, and in 1807 the zoological collection of the Italian Chetti, consisting of many representatives of animals, corals, shells of mollusks, insects, birds, as well as fossils and minerals. For both collections, 39200 rubles were paid andsignatures. These collections arrived in Kharkov on April 2, 1807. This date is considered the founding day of the museum.

‍

The first keeper of the zoological collection of the natural cabinet was the professor of botany F.O. Delyavin, and the keeper of the mineralogical collections is Professor of Chemistry Schnaubert, who arrived in Kharkov from Germany and was appointed to the post on the recommendation of the honorary member of the Kharkiv Imperial University J.V. Goethe.

‍

I.A. Krinitsky was one of the most outstanding professors, who headed the museum from 1826 to 1836 and made a great contribution to its further scientific development. During this time, the museum's collections grew almost fourfold and contained 7,924 storage units. The collections were scientifically systematized, their first catalogs were compiled, a laboratory was created to determine, prepare and mount the collected material, and the first expeditions were organized.

‍

The museum's funds were replenished through the acquisition of collections, sometimes up to 1000 exhibits, abroad, mainly in Germany. Scientists, public figures and unnamed nature lovers took an active part in replenishing the collections.

‍

Gifts also came from individuals, alumni and university employees. Yes, Count S. Pototsky presented the office with the first meteorites, which became the beginning of the museum's meteorite collection: a stone that fell on the territory of the Smolensk province, and part of the first meteorite known in Russia, the famous “Pallas Iron”. The halls of the museum contain an emerald and a model of native gold donated to the museum in the middle of the 19th century by the royal family. In 1877, P.N. Savchenko handed shellfish shells collected during a round-the-world trip on the Haidamak clipper to his office. In 1903, professor of botany V.M. Arnold, after an expedition to the islands of the Sondes archipelago, transfers a collection of corals, mollusks and snakes to the museum.

‍

The intensive growth of stock collections led to the fact that by the centenary of its foundation, zoological and mineralogical offices could well claim the status of museums. Museums have become a repository of unique scientific values. At that time, museum expositions were mainly presented in the form of systematic collections of minerals and rocks, as well as collections of skeletons, wet preparations and stuffed animals.

‍

The zoological and mineralogical collections of the cabinet occupied separate rooms and had their own libraries. Their formal unification took place only in the 60s of the twentieth century after the transfer of the museum to the house on Trinkler Street, erected in 1903 according to the project of the architect V.V. Wielchka. This building is a landmark of architecture of the twentieth century.

‍

To date, the Museum of Nature of Kharkiv National University is a large scientific, educational and educational center of Ukraine, which participates in the training of highly qualified specialists in natural sciences, engages in educational and educational work with students, conducts excursion and lecture work.

‍

In the scientific funds of the museum there are more than 250 thousand exhibits. They represent the entire history of our planet. These are stuffed animals and carcasses, wet and dry animal preparations, skulls, skeletons, bird eggs, shellfish shells, rock and mineral samples, fossil remains, effigies and plaster casts of extinct animals.
Among the zoological, geological, paleontological exhibits, the skeletons of the extinct ones are the most striking: the Steller cow and the almost 4-meter plesiosaur. A 100-kilogram rock crystal and a collection of meteorites.
The whale is the largest modern animal on the planet. The complete skeleton of a marine mammal, 20 meters long, is presented in the exposition of the museum. It was necessary to bring the exhibit through the windows, using special equipment.

‍

In the 23 halls of the museum there are scientific expositions of four departments: geological, invertebrate and vertebrate animals, the evolution of the organic world and nature conservation. Exhibits in the halls are shown not only in the form of systematic collections, but also in the form of biogroups and spectacular dioramas, which are equipped with audiovisual means and are distinguished by high quality of artistic design, careful and thoughtful selection of exhibits. The ideas of nature conservation are reflected in each scientific exposition of the museum. They highlight the complex relationships in nature, the diversity of life manifestations and its protection in different landscape-climatic zones.

‍

The museum is also an advisory scientific and methodological center for local history museums of the Left Bank of Ukraine, for teachers of higher and secondary educational institutions, employees of research institutes.”