The unique museum-theater "Ice Age" was created in 2004 by the entrepreneur and lover of ancient history Fedor Shidlovsky. This is the first private museum of paleontology in the history of modern Russia, where not only scientific research is carried out, but also the interest of children and adolescents in fossil animals and history in general is encouraged.
Enthusiast of his quest
During his youth, Fedor Shidlovsky, then still a student, first found a mammoth bone in the Yakut taiga. This find had a great influence on the young man: after all, many experienced paleontologists spent years of their life searching for fossil remains in vast Yakutia, but all to no avail.
Since then, the design engineer devoted all his free time to searching for parts of huge prehistoric animals. It was a long 19 years before the Szydlowski team found its first whole mammoth skeleton.
By that time, the former engineer had already founded the Mammoth company and was engaged in the search and sale of the tusks of this mammal. In parallel, Fedor Shidlovsky collected rare samples of ancient animals, already then dreaming of creating a museum.
The idea came true in 2004, when the Ice Age Museum, the largest private paleontological museum in Europe, was opened on the territory of VDNKh. On the basis of his funds, a lot of international scientific research is being carried out with the participation of mineral experts from Italy, the UK, the USA and other countries. And every year, museum employees go on new expeditions to try to find new unique fossils.
Exposition Start
Most of the exhibits belong to the personal collection of Shidlovsky, and this is not at all surprising. The idea to share the results of his searches so captivated the entrepreneur that for many years he selected future exhibits for his museum. And today, the collection has more than 2500 items.
Today, the Ice Age Museum in Moscow attracts the attention of children and adults with the realism of its exhibits and the ability to touch any item. In all of its halls there is not a single “Do not touch” sign.
Deer and cave bear
The expositions of each hall of the museum are dedicated to certain topics and the life time of ancient animals.
The first is occupied by reconstructed figures and skeletons of animals that lived at the same time as mammoths. Some of them still live in our and neighboring countries. These animals include moose and deer, which still inhabit Siberian expanses. And, of course, a picturesque group of wolves, freely located on large stones.
A well-thought-out composition of the exhibits shows how different the sizes of modern animals are from their fossil ancestors. So, at the entrance of the guests there are two figures of modern bears - brown and white. And behind them is the skeleton of an ancient cave bear - its height exceeds 2.5 meters. The maximum growth of such animals could reach four meters.
Guides allow you to touch the two-meter horn of a fossil deer, although raising it from a place is quite problematic. The museum says that in ancient times, shaggy yaks and woolly rhinos lived on the territory of modern Moscow. The skeleton of one such beast adorns the first hall of the Ice Age museum in the Alekseevsky district of Moscow.
Big saber-toothed cats
The peculiarity of the museum expositions is that they represent scenes from the possible life of animals. The poses in which two predatory saber-toothed tigers froze are no exception. They look very realistic, and huge protruding fangs literally catch up with fear. Although, if you ask the guide of the Ice Age Museum about the history of the creation of these figures, interesting facts will be found out. Saber-toothed cats did not live in our country, so it was impossible to get their fossil remains. Just for little fans of one of the characters in the cartoon "Ice Age" were made very similar to the original figures of tigers. In fact, the museum has figures of Ussuri tigers, and instead of huge fangs they have mammoth teeth.
But the fossil cave lion looks almost like a modern predator, only without the usual mane. And the size of the museum lion is much larger than that of its modern descendants. And nearby is a unique skull of this giant predator of almost perfect preservation.
Mammoth Hall
The second hall of the Ice Age Museum is dedicated to fossil giants with huge tusks.
The central part of the room is occupied by a life-size group of mammoths located on a rotating podium. These copies are made in full accordance with how the animals looked at the time of their existence. Moreover, for the manufacture of figures, fossil remains are selected that do not represent collectible value. The use of such materials allows making figures as close as possible to the originals.
A group of mammoths in the center of the main hall of the Museum-Theater "Ice Age" attracts the attention of all visitors. However, besides them, there are several whole skeletons and skulls of fossil giants. Including, a lot of huge tusks of these animals, at different times found by the team of Fyodor Shidlovsky. Many scientists are sure that the value of the exhibits of this museum for studying the DNA of fossil animals is impossible to even imagine.
Cave of ancient people
Reading the description of the museum-theater "Ice Age", it is difficult not to pay attention to the imitation of the cave house, located in the central hall. Many small visitors to the museum love to “visit” their distant ancestors and take pictures with realistic figures.
Few people remember that our ancestors lived next to huge representatives of primitive fauna, were able to resist predators and successfully hunt even mammoths.
Museum workers have tried to recreate as much as possible the appearance of ancient people and how their home and clothes from skins could look. In the center of the cave there was even an impromptu bonfire. Guides say that in ancient times it was very difficult to get firewood, so people had to throw thin bones of dead animals into the fire. Not a good time to live …
Bone carving hall
When the creator of the museum, who often visited Yakutia and the Far North, became interested in the work of masters of ivory carving, he did not think about a profitable commercial undertaking. Rather, he wanted to preserve the traditions of the peoples of the North and their unique skills.
However, everything went further - the third hall of the Ice Age Museum is dedicated to the carving technique. Here, along with completely monumental mammoth bones, for example, a carved throne, small but very elegant works are presented that anyone can buy. By the way, there is another option - to order the product to the masters according to their own sketch, but, like any manual work, this is quite an expensive pleasure.
The museum would not be a museum if the exposition consisted only of the works of modern masters. Here carefully collected objects carved by craftsmen several hundred years ago. And these old gizmos still amaze with the skill of the northern bone carvers.
How are fossils mined?
In addition to the windows with the wonders of bone carving, in the third room you can watch a documentary about interesting finds and methods of extracting parts of ancient animals. It shows how parts of the skeleton or tusks of huge mammals are carefully removed from permafrost.
So, it is very difficult to see the remains of bones in frozen ground, most often they can be seen on the crumbling banks of the northern rivers. However, even in the summer, the water in them is very cold and stormy, and only enthusiasts can dive into the stream.
And to get fragile bones, washed with water from the ground, found at the bottom of the river or in the soil of a slippery shore, is quite difficult. Although it is possible - among the exhibits of the museum there is a skull with huge tusks. It was possible to extract it when, after the spring flood, the level of the Indigirka River in Yakutia became slightly lower. Sailing past, search engines noticed this giant skull protruding slightly from the water, and with difficulty, but were able to get it.
New Berengiya Hall
Relatively recently, a hall began to work, in which stuffed representatives of the modern fauna of the North-Eastern and Central parts of Russia are represented. The figures of animals are made very naturally and placed in decorations similar to their habitat.
A new interactive program was launched here, which allows young visitors to pick up and examine all the objects presented, climb into the cave to primitive people and even try to create their own cave paintings.
According to reviews of the Ice Age Museum and Theater, visitors really like the abundance of information that experienced guides present in an accessible form for young paleontologists and the ability to touch real fossils from permafrost.
