The Central Museum of Tauris (WTC) gives its visitors the opportunity to learn almost everything about Crimea. The museum will introduce the history, nature and culture of the peninsula. Today it is the largest museum dedicated to the Crimea.
Tavrida
Tauris or Tavria is the name given to the Crimean peninsula after it was annexed to the Russian Empire in 1783. Since 1784, Tauris was part of the Tauride province. This name comes from the name of the tribes that inhabited the peninsula in ancient times - Taurus. Tavrida was also called the northern coast of the Black and Azov Seas. After the eighteenth century, the peninsula became known as the Crimea.
Since ancient times, the peninsula has attracted various peoples and tribes. This was facilitated by a favorable climate, which allows you to collect abundant crops, rich animal and plant life. Extraction of iron ore on the peninsula allowed the development of metallurgy and mining. At different time periods, more than a dozen peoples lived there, from Tauris to Mongols.
Each people living in Tauride lands has contributed to the cultural heritage of the Crimean peninsula. The Central Museum of Tauris gathered exhibits of each era within its walls, which helps visitors learn more about the history of Crimea.
Museum Creation
The foundation day of the museum is considered to be May 8, 1921. Then he received the name "Central Museum of Tauris." The new museum united two large museums already existing in Simferopol:
- Archaeological Museum. The date of its foundation is 1887, it was located in the building of the Provincial Zemstvo. It was he who laid the foundation for the creation of a modern museum. Joined the new museum in 1921.
- Natural History Museum, founded in 1899. The basis of his exposure was the entomological collection of S. A. Morzhetsky, who at that time was the provincial entomologist. Entered the Tauris Museum in 1922.
The Central Museum of Tauris was founded on the initiative of the Committee on Museums and the Protection of Monuments of Art, Antiquities and Nature. In 1923, the museum included three expositions: art, ethnographic and archaeological. The replenishment of the collection was actively facilitated by an order of the authorities to transfer cultural objects from the Cheka’s vault to the museum’s department and to nationalize the palaces and estates of Crimea.
The history of the museum to this day
Over its centuries-old history, the Central Museum of Tauris has moved several times. The question of the location of the museum remained open for many years. Initially, it was located in a building on Gorky Street (formerly Dvoryanskaya Street). Later, the museum moved to the building along Karl Liebknecht Street (at that time - Dolgorukovskaya Street). The exposition of the natural history department continued to be located in the building of the Provincial Zemstvo, which at that time had already been disbanded. However, the premises in the building were cramped and over time became unable to accommodate the museum's ever-growing collection.
In 1927, the building of the former shelter of Countess Adlerberg was transferred to the location of the exhibits. Only in 1988 the museum gained its permanent location. The address where the Central Museum of Tauris is located is Simferopol, Gogol Street, house 14. The museum also includes the Alushta Museum of Local Lore, the house-museum of the poet Selvinsky and the memorial complex "Red" concentration camp.
Museum branches
The museum in Alushta opened in 1923 at the initiative of the Russian Society for the Study of Crimea. The museum is located in the building of the old cottage P.I. Mahlis "Modern". The building is an architectural monument of the early twentieth century.
The collection of the museum has about nine thousand exhibits. Most of them are devoted to the history and cultural heritage of the city of Alushta. Of particular interest is the archaeological exhibition, which collected exhibits from various eras of the peninsula, from the tools of the Meso-Neolithic era to objects found in ancient Partenit and the fortress of Aluston.
The museum of the poet Ilya Selvinsky is located in the center of Simferopol, in the house where the poet was born and lived. The museum was created in 1989 and is a department of the WTC. In addition to the exposition dedicated to the life and work of the poet, the museum contains some paintings by the poet’s daughter Tatyana Sevilskaya.
Library
The central museum of Tauris includes a huge library. The Tavrika Scientific Library, which operates as a branch of the museum, is of particular historical and cultural value. The library was founded in 1873 by A.Kh. Steven, whose name she bears since 1894. The library includes publications originally owned by the Tauride Zemstvo, a natural history museum. Also in the library fund is part of the collection of books of Nicholas II.
The library fund is mostly devoted to information about the Crimean peninsula. The collection is about fifty thousand books in different languages and different eras. The oldest exhibits are dated to the eleventh century. The collection also includes newspaper sets, prints, maps of the peninsula.
Expositions of the Museum of Tauris
Museum expositions consist of more than one hundred thousand copies and occupy three floors of the museum building. This is the largest collection of exhibits about the past and present of Crimea. The museum often takes part in various exhibitions and festivals, both in Russia and abroad.
A special place in the collection is occupied by Lapidarium, located in the courtyard of the building. The exposition includes fragments of ancient altars and tombstones, a unique anthropomorphic plate and “Idol of Verkhorechye”.
The flora and fauna of the Crimea are dedicated to the exposition “Reserved Landscapes” and “Nature”. The latter contains exhibits that are more than a million years old. Separate exhibitions tell about the most important periods in the history of the peninsula, such as the Russian-Turkish war, the Great Patriotic War, the period of ancient Crimea.
The cinema hall, stylized as a sanitary tent of the war years, opened for visitors the Central Museum of Tauris. Photo, newsreel, video material of the war years became possible to study on the big screen. The “Golden pantry" of the museum contains exhibits from precious stones and metals, starting from the second century BC.
