Description of the attraction
Kozlov Pyotr Kuzmich (1863-1935) - explorer-traveler of Central Asia, namely Mongolia, Tibet and China, student and associate of N. M. Przhevalsky, a member of 6 major expeditions, 3 of which he organized and directed personally. The field research carried out by Kozlov and the collections he collected significantly enriched archeology and natural science. Pyotr Kuzmich created about 70 scientific works, presented by articles and books, vividly and fascinatingly telling about his travels to little-studied and hard-to-reach places in the center of Asia. Kozlov became famous all over the world thanks to the discovery and excavation of the "dead city" Khara-khoto on the edge of the Gobi Desert (1908–1909) and the Hunnic burial mounds in the north of Mongolia in the Noin-ula mountains (1924–1925).
Various collections brought by Kozlov from expeditions (cultural and household items, archaeological monuments, books and manuscripts in oriental languages, samples of Central Asian fauna and flora) are currently stored in the largest museum and library collections of St. Petersburg: the Hermitage, the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography, the Institute of Oriental Studies, Botanical and Zoological Museums of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
The Kozlov Memorial Museum is one of the youngest academic museums in St. Petersburg. It appeared at the end of 1989 at the Leningrad branch of the Institute of the History of Natural Science and Technology of the Russian Academy of Sciences by the decision of several organizations and individual scientists, such as academicians A. P. Okladnikov, E. M. Lavrenko and A. L. Yanshin. The main idea of the museum was to acquaint the general population with the scientific work of a number of world famous travel geographers, who laid the foundation for modern knowledge about Central Asia. Initially, it was planned to form a museum on the basis of Kozlov's apartment, which would reflect the activities of other researchers of Central Asia - the Museum of the History of Modern Geographical Discoveries. The activities to create a scientific exposition began in the second half of the 1990s and was completed at the end of 2002.
P. K. Kozlova is located in an old St. Petersburg house, not far from Smolny, in a spacious 7-room apartment where the scientist settled in 1912 after marrying E. V. Pushkareva, who later became a prominent scientist and ornithologist.
The museum exposition consists of an entrance hall, a study of Pyotr Kuzmich, a room for the history of Russian expeditions to the center of Asia, a Tibetan room and a room for temporary exhibitions.
Among the exhibits presented are archival documents, letters, diaries, books, geographical maps, photographs, drawings, personal belongings of a traveler, which testify to the great era of Russia's scientific exploration of Central Asia. Expedition equipment of that time is of great interest: pack bags, boxes for transporting collections and instruments, rifle equipment, binoculars, compasses.
But 2 items stand out, which have been exhibited at city and international exhibitions more than once: a men's travel table vanity case, consisting of 20 items, in a leather suitcase, and a mahogany writing folding table with a full set of items. Ethnographic exhibits include Buddhist cult objects, represented by a perfectly preserved monastery gong, as well as several ceremonial hadak scarves. One of them in 1905 was presented to Kozlov by the ruler of Tibet, the Dalai Lama XIII.
The collection of the Kozlov Museum contains approximately 10,000 exhibits. There is a personal archive of the scientist, the archive of his wife E. V. Pushkareva-Kozlova, cartographic collection, library, photo library, collection of postcards. The library contains about 2,000 titles of fiction and scientific literature. The Tibetan Club functions at the museum. He organizes film screenings, meetings with Tibetan specialists and travelers.
The very apartment of Pyotr Kuzmich Kozlov - its interiors and layout, giving an idea of the life of our scientific intelligentsia at the beginning of the 20th century, has recently attracted filmmakers. For example, in Kozlov's office, feature and documentary films have been filmed more than once.
