Every person not involved in the medical profession is curious to know what mysterious and terrible instruments are hidden under a sterile sheet in a surgical dressing room or what happens in an operating room under the bright light of lamps. The Museum of Medicine, of course, reveals the veil of secrecy a little, but the main exhibits show the history of the development of medicine, the achievements of great doctors, their jobs and books, photographs and portraits, awards.
Description
Until now in Russia there is no museum of medicine as an independent institution in any city. They are all affiliated institutions at universities, academies, medical research communities or hospitals. The creators and custodians, as well as guides, are employees of the above institutions, that is, doctors, paramedical personnel, researchers.
It is impossible to get into most museums of medicine, you need exits to the administration and preliminary agreements with employees on a guided tour. Most often, visitors to such museums are local and visiting medical students,doctors from Russian cities and their foreign colleagues.
Museums of medicine in Russia: history of creation
Protomuseum collections already appeared at the end of the 17th century, mostly at monasteries, where the sisters of mercy healed not only the soul, but also the body, as well as at pharmacies.
The founder of the Museum of Medicine was Peter I, through whose efforts the famous Kunstkamera was recognized in 1719 and is still working in St. Petersburg. Perhaps this is the only case when the ruler initiated the creation of an institution of this kind. Most often, the creators of medical museums are members of scientific communities, scientists and doctors. The Kunstkamera is one of the few museums of medicine that anyone can visit.
At the end of the 19th century, several museums were opened at the departments of medical universities: the Pirogov Memorial Museum, the Museum of the Russian Society for the Preservation of National He alth, etc. At the beginning of the 20th century, during the formation of Soviet power, the Moscow Museum of Social Hygiene began its work. Expositions of museums of medicine in Moscow and other cities (Kyiv, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Kazan, Novorossiysk) ranged from memorial and historical to industry. For example, a museum of dentistry or surgery.
The largest medical museums in Russia
The Museum of Applied Medicine in Moscow was the very first large museum of its kind not only in Russia, but also in Western countries. It was created under the guidance of Professor Savelyev in 1913.
The most significant collection of exhibits is in the Museum of Historymedicine at one of the oldest educational institutions - the University. Sechenov, which is located in Moscow near the metro station "Frunzenskaya". There are many exhibits dedicated to field medicine in 1941-1945, the "evolution" of surgical instruments from wooden and porcelain to modern ones is shown. There are a large number of visual aids, things and awards of the great Russian doctors (Sechenov, Pirogov, Pavlov and even Chekhov, who had a short medical career).
The Mechnikov Museum of Forensic Medicine in St. Petersburg has always aroused great interest not only among students of medical institutions, but also among people of other professions. Until 2000, there was just a department with visual aids for 6th year students studying forensic medicine. Then the management of the university opened a museum, which can be visited by tourist organized groups by appointment. Of the most terrible exhibits, the mummy of a girl who hanged herself in the forest, the mummy of a person who suffered from alcohol addiction sitting at a table, various skull injuries, diseased human organs, the black lung of a heavy smoker and developmental anomalies in formalin cans are the most memorable here.
Museums of medicine in Moscow
There are about 10 medical museums in the capital, attached to colleges, institutes, universities and hospitals.
The Museum of the History of Medicine of the Moscow State University of Medicine and Dentistry was founded in 1926 and is mainly dedicated to the core industry. There are luxurious dental chairs fortreatment of the nobility, dental machines, which are over 100 years old.
Museum of Cardiovascular Surgery at the Scientific Center. Bakuleva demonstrates various heart valves, the operating room of the middle of the 20th century, apparatus for blood circulation and anesthesia are reconstructed here. The staff provide very educational tours of early human understanding of the cardiovascular system.
In the museum of the history of surgery named after. Vishnevsky, you can find out the biography of the famous surgeon Pirogov, see his letters and awards, as well as the very first topographic atlas of human anatomy, thanks to which doctors stopped operating almost "blindly" and "by touch".
Ekaterinburg Museum of Medicine
The exhibition collection was opened in the early 80s. XX century at the Sverdlovsk Regional Clinical Hospital No. 1 and has more than 70,000 exhibits.
Many storage units are associated with the activities of the famous Ural doctors Sheffer, Lidsky and Kushelevsky: here are their personal belongings and awards, notes and recipes. Other exhibits relate to folk medicine, including Muslim, there are also old microscopes, sets of an ophthalmologist, dentist and gynecologist. The museum has free admission for anyone interested in medicine. You can call the management in advance and organize a tour, where employees will be happy to tell entertaining and informative stories about their collections.
Rolemuseums of medicine in society
First of all, such museums are intended for students who are getting the profession of a doctor, or for high school students who want to connect their lives with medicine in the future. For example, the Museum of the History of Medicine in Yekaterinburg is open to all visitors. However, employees note that some of the exhibits seem creepy to ordinary people, so one trip to the museum is enough for them to satisfy their curiosity. Medical students visit exhibitions several times in order to get the maximum benefit for their future work.
Thanks to such exhibits, a person fully understands the great work of medical workers, which is based on colossal knowledge and humanism. Museum objects of military field medicine show how difficult it was for doctors and nurses to do medical work in conditions of unsanitary conditions and endless threats of enemy attacks.
Exhibits of forensic medicine make people think again about their lifestyle, reconsider their attitude to bad habits, appreciate and love everything beautiful that surrounds us.
