One of the oldest museums of St. Petersburg , the Museum of Ethnography, is located in Arts Square (Ploshchad Iskusstv). This is the biggest Russian museum showing traditions, culture and everyday life of all nations, peoples and ethnic groups living in Russia and in the neighboring countries.

The museum was founded in the end of the 19 th century as the Ethnographic Department of the Russian Museum . To house the collections of this department, a special building designed by Vladimir Svinyin was constructed in the beginning of the 20th century on the place previously occupied by the eastern service wing, the stables and the laundry of Mikhailovsky Palace . The building was constructed following the traditions of the Russian Classicism.

Among the first collections of the museum were gifts to the Emperor's family from representatives of various peoples living in the Russian Empire. The collections of the Museum of Ethnography were also formed with the help of expeditions to various regions, with the help of donations and purchases. Regular expeditions aimed at collecting exhibits began in 1901. Many exhibits were purchased by members of the Romanovs family and especially by Nicholas II. The Emperor arranged for additional financing of the museum because State financing was not enough to purchase new exhibits. A collection of Buddhist religious objects was purchased for the museum by Prince Ukhtomsky.

In 1934, the Ethnographic Department was given the status of an independent museum (the State Museum of Ethnography). After the post-war reconstruction, the museum was significantly enlarged: the collections of the Moscow State Museum of the Peoples of the USSR were added to it. In the 1980s, the museum became the principal national treasury of ethnographic exhibits, a major research and educational center. There is no similar museum and research center either in Russia or abroad.

At present, the museum possesses almost one million exhibits, 17-th - 20-th -century archival materials and photographs showing history, culture and everyday life of more than 150 peoples and ethnic groups.

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