Zoological Museum of UzhNU is a valuable scientific pearl that requires daily care
The Zoological Museum of UzhNU is one of the research units, which are incredibly important for training highly skilled professionals, where students can get not only fundamental theoretical knowledge but also acquire practical skills.
This year the museum celebrates its 71st anniversary
The history of the Zoological Museum of UzhNU began in December 1945. Originally it was a bio-zoological museum at the Faculty of Biology, whose opening was initiated by the first Dean of the Faculty Associate Professor of Uzhhorod State University Ivan Rohal, the Head of the Department of Zoology and Associate Professor Ilya Kolyushev and the first director of the museum Kateryna Nesterenko.
At first, the museum had neither qualified staff, nor exhibits. The first exhibits were transferred from Uzhhorod, Mukachevo and Berehovo gymnasiums, some were presented by various scientific institutions of the country. At first, museum collections were replenished with the findings of the expeditions whose members were museum employees, researchers, students and staff of the faculty. The Caucasus, the White Sea, Azerbaijan, Volga basin and Askania Nova are the locations where the exhibits were brought from. Lots of them can still be seen in the museum show halls. At present, the museum can boast with about 5,000 display exhibits obtained due to exchange In addition, museum funds include over 150 thousand specimens of insects, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals.
Museum staff took care of every detail
Lots of people have always tried hard to improve the arrangement of the Zoological Museum. People's Artist of Ukraine Yosyp Bokshay worked on the decoration of its exposition. Huge amount of work was done by a prominent naturalist and ornithologist Oleksandr Hrabar. At the beginning of the twentieth century he made a unique collection of stuffed birds of prey and owls living in Transcarpathia and Eastern Slovakia.
There were lots of other professionals who made their inestimable contribution to the development of the Zoological Museum, including Illya Kolyushev who contributed to the enrichment of museum’s funds; Oleksiy Luhovyy who opened a birdbanding center at the museum and wrote dozens of research papers. A significant contribution to the development of the museum was made by Yuriy Mateleshko, who worked here for about 20 years and produced more than 500 stuffed animals and more than 1,000 stock exhibits.
The museum has specimens from all over the world
At present the Zoological Museum of UzhNU is located in a former Basilian monastery. The very atmosphere of the building helps to create necessary conditions for the storage of exhibits. There are three showrooms in the museum, which are conventionally divided into the showrooms of mammals, birds and mixed one, which houses incredible exhibits not only from Transcarpathia, but also from all over the world.
