Description of the attraction
Metrological Museum, more precisely, the Metrological Museum of the State Standard of Russia at the All-Russian Research Institute of Metrology (VNIIM) named after D. I. Mendeleev, is located in St. Petersburg. This type of museum is the only one in Russia. In the exposition you can see unique ancient exemplary measures, scales and other measuring devices that tell about the history of measurements in our and other countries. The collection is represented by Russian pounds and spools, buckets and fours, arshins and fathoms, Western European pounds and feet, Chinese lians, Egyptian rotles, American pints and gallons.
The creation and development of the Metrological Museum are closely intertwined with the history of the emergence and improvement of the standard base of Russia and the work of the 1st State Metrological and Calibration Institution of our country, the Depot of Exemplary Weights and Measures - the Main Chamber of Weights and Measures - VNIIM named after D. I. Mendeleev.
In 1829 E. F. Kankrin (Minister of Finance of Russia) established the "Collection of exemplary measures of the main foreign states." The need for this meeting arose due to the work on the formation of a scientifically based national system of measures. In 1842, after comparing foreign measures from 27 countries and cities of the world with Russian standards, they were transferred for storage in the Depot of Model Weights and Measures, which was located in the Peter and Paul Fortress. The first scientist-keeper of the Depot, academician A. Ya. Kupffer proposed turning the collection of foreign measures into a collection from which everyone could borrow the information they need. This is how the Metrological Museum came into being.
In 1880, the Depot moved to a new building on Zabalkansky Avenue (now Moskovsky Avenue). The first museum collections, carefully preserved by Professor V. S. Glukhov - the second scientist-keeper of the Depot.
In 1892, the Depot of Exemplary Weights and Measures was headed by D. I. Mendeleev. Under him, the Depot was reorganized into the Main Chamber of Weights and Measures. The scientist paid special attention to the preservation and use of metrological monuments. On his initiative, ancient scales and measures from the Academy of Sciences, the Mint, the Military Topographic Depot were handed over to the museum, as well as dummies and models of various measuring instruments.
In 1926, a museum named after D. I. Mendeleev. The former study of the scientist was transferred to the museum. In addition to the collection of ancient samples of measures and measuring instruments, the museum's fund includes his personal belongings, instruments, letters, manuscripts, photographs. The museum opened in December 1928.
The first curator of the Mendeleev Museum was M. N. Babies. The interest of visitors to the museum was great. The brilliant story of the head of the museum supplemented the exposition. In 1929 Mladentsev compiled and published I "Index of the Mendeleev Museum", which gives a detailed description of his collection.
During the Great Patriotic War, the museum did not work. Valuable exhibits and state standards were evacuated to Sverdlovsk. At the beginning of the war Babies died. In 1945, the restoration of the museum's exposition began. This was done by A. V. Skvortsov is its II head and former personal secretary of Mendeleev. In early 1946, the museum reopened. In addition to excursion activities, Skvortsov continued collecting work, significantly increasing the museum funds.
In 1961-1964 the museum was closed. A number of exhibits, including Mendeleev's personal archive, were transferred to the museum-apartment of the scientist at the Leningrad State University. The bulk of the measuring instruments and measures ended up in the VNIIM laboratories.
In 1964, the exposition in Mendeleev's study was restored from the remaining exhibits at VNIIM. From this year until the beginning of the 1980s, the museum was called the Cabinet-Museum of D. I. Mendeleev.
In 1984, namely on the day of the 150th anniversary of the birth of D. I. Mendeleev, an exposition was opened in his 3 private rooms. The museum was awarded the status of the Gosstandart Metrological Museum.
The Metrological Museum attracts not only metrologists and historians of science, but also a wide range of specialists around the world. Information about him is available in Russian and international reference books. The museum is the only and extremely necessary educational base for students of secondary and higher educational institutions, faculties of advanced training of various specialists, whose training program includes a course on the basics of metrology and standardization.
