Peter’s Kunstkamera, or the Tower of Knowledge

On June 9, 2022, on the 350th birthday of Emperor Peter the Great, Russia’s oldest museum opened a new permanent exhibition, Peter’s Kunstkamera or the Tower of Knowledge. This exhibition is a tribute to the country’s sovereign and enlightener who created the Kunstkamera museum (1714) and the Academy of Sciences (1724).

The exhibition occupies two floors in the tower of the historical Kunstkamera building. The first floor recreates the Petrine concept of the early universal museum – a Theatrum Mundi (theater of the world). The collections of naturalia (natural objects), exotica (rarities), and curiosities on display, including the famous collection of the Dutch anatomist Frederik Ruysch, give an idea of what the early 18th-century man knew about the world. The main characters of the exhibit are the pioneers of the nascent Russian science, including Peter I, who was greatly interested in anatomy, mechanics, and archeology, and his associates, Robert Erskine, Jacob Bruce, and Johann Schumacher.

The exhibition’s second part tells the story of Russia’s research expeditions dispatched by the Russian Academy of Sciences and round-the-world voyages of the Russian navy in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Here the central guides of the visitors to the world of discovered countries and peoples are travelers, explorers, and sailors who gathered collections for the oldest museum in Russia. The exhibition unfolds in two dimensions. First is the discovery of Russia: D.G. Messerschmidt’s trip to Siberia, the Second Kamchatka (Great Northern) expedition, and the famous academic (physical) tours. Second is the discovery of the world: the journeys around the globe conducted by I. F. Krusenstern and Yu. F. Lisniansky, F. F. Bellingshausen and M.P. Lazarev, V.M. Golovnin, and F.P. Litke. Due to their explorations and the unique ethnographic collections they gathered, the Kunstkamera became a “museum of the world.”

Skeleton of Nicholas Bourgeois. Dry Preparation. St. Petersburg, 1724-1727.
Bourgeois’ heart injected with red mass. Dry preparation. St. Petersburg, 1724-1725 Portrait of Nicholas Bourgeois. Artist Georg Gsell. Oil on canvas. A reduced copy of the original from the collection of the State Russian Museum

Clockwork toy “Lady on a Reindeer.” China, the Qing period (1644-1911), first half of the 18th century. Tin, ivory, paint, ink, metal wire, silk thread, gilding, silvering, hammering, painting

Clockwork toy “Queen Mother of the West Xiwangmu on a Phoenix.” China, the Qing Period (1644-1911), first half of the 18th century. Tin, ivory, paint, ink, metallic wire, silk thread, gilding, silver plating, hammering, painting

Clockwork toy “Ship” depicting a Chinese leisure boat. China, the Qing period (1644 –1911), first half of the 18th century. Tin, ivory, paint, ink, metal wire, silk thread; gilding, silvering, hammering, painting

Wax heads (presumably “Japanese,” “Ostyak,” and “European”). St. Petersburg, 18th century. Wax, glass, natural hair; faces tinted

Caftan. According to a legend, it belonged to the President of the Academy of Sciences K.G. Razumovsky. Mid-18^th century. Velvet, silk and gold thread; embroidery

The entrance to Peter's Kunstkamera exhibition from the Africa Hall

The entrance to Peter's Kunstkamera exhibition from the Japan Hall

A fragment of the showcase Frederic Ruysch’s Cabinet exhibition

Skeleton of a two-headed calf with four forelimbs and two hindlimbs. St. Petersburg, the early 18th century