The Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography is one of the oldest ethnographic museums of the world. It was opened in 1714 by order of Peter the Great and became the first public museum in Russia. The Emperor brought from his travels abroad models of ships and machines, equipment and astronomic instruments, stuffed animals and birds. Originally, these interesting exhibits were brought to the Moscow Kremlin, but, in 1714, Peter the Great ordered to bring all his collections to the new capital of Russia and to keep them in the Summer Palace. Later, the museum was in Kikin's Mansion, and, from 1727 – in the building specially constructed for this purpose on the Spit of Vasilyevsky Island (1718-1734, designed by the architect Georg Mattarnovi, the construction was completed under the supervision of Nicholas Herbel, Gaetano Chiaveri and Mikhail Zemtsov; reconstructed after the 1747 fire by the architect Savva Chevakinsky). According to a legend, when walking among high pine trees growing on the Spit of Vasilyevsky Island, Peter the Great paid attention to a strange-looking pine with a circular branch. He ordered to cut the tree, to preserve its trunk and to construct the new building of the Kunstkammer upon the place. The building of the Kunstkammer is a typical example of the Baroque architecture of the epoch of Peter the Great. It is one of the very few buildings remaining in St. Petersburg since the 1 st third of the 18 th century.

The basis of the collections of the Kunstkammer ("the curiosity room") were the Czar's own collections. In 1724, these collections were given to the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. In the 1830s, the Kunstkammer was divided into seven independent museums. In 1879, two of them, the Museum of Ethnography and the Museum of Anatomy, were united to form the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography. In 1902, the museum was named after Peter the Great.

The ethnographic, anthropological and archeological collections of the museum show culture and everyday life of many peoples living in all continents of the Earth. These include: the oldest anatomic collection purchased in 1717 from the Dutch anatomist Frederik Reusch, "the monsters' collection" from Czar Peter's Kunstkammer, the materials collected in the 18 th -19 th centuries during the long expeditions to Siberia and Kamchatka by such famous researchers as Daniel Messerschmidt, Gerard Miller, Pyotr Pallas, Johann Gmelin and Stepan Krasheninnikov. The museum collections were considerably increased, and rare ethnographic and scientific materials were added to them after the expedition around the world on board the ships Nadezhda and Neva commanded by Ivan Krusenstern and Yuri Lisyansky and the Antarctic expedition of Faddei Bellinshausen and Mikhail Lazarev. Of special interest is the collection of the famous Russian researcher and traveler Nikolai Miklukho-Maklai who brought these exhibits from New Guinea and the Oceanic islands. The museum exhibits show the origin of humans and the origin of various races, principal stages of the development of the Primitive society and cultural traditions of various nations. You can see in the museum rooms wonderful collections of the applied art of Japan, China, Polynesia and Australia, models of houses, household items, works of craftsmen, materials demonstrating beliefs of the peoples of Africa, Asia, Australia, the Oceanic islands, North and South America, Kamchatka and Far East. There is also a permanent exhibition, "From the Collections of the First Russian Museum – the Kunstkammer of St. Petersburg" showing the first exhibits of the collections of Peter the Great, his personal belongings, his death mask and a plaster replica of his hand.

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