From distant lands and oceans

The collections of the State Darwin Museum are continuously replenished. Some exhibits are brought by the museum’s researches from their trips and science expeditions, some come from zoos and oceanariums, but some collections grow because of the gifts of the caring people who are always remembered and highly valued in our museum. The ethnographic collection and the collection of fishing gears are ones of such relatively small but undoubtedly interesting collections. The exhibition displays one of recent gifts kindly donated to the museum by L.I. Moskalyov. These gifts are the ritual and decorative masks from different regions and the spears from the New Guinea Island. A well-known oceanologist brought them from expeditions to exotic lands. These gifts complement the natural science collections with ethnographic items, creating a complete picture of the area and immersing visitors in the atmosphere of distant countries. L.I. Moskalyov’s main research interests were hydrobiology, zoology, systematics and ecology. Since 1954 until 1993 he participated in 30 marine research expeditions of the Russian Academy of Science, including the expedition being undertaken by the research vessel “Dmitri Mendeleev”. He dedicated about 10 years to research of the ocean, spent 200 hours in manned deep sea vehicles (maximum immersion depth was 5460 in 1989). L.I. Moskalyov considered it necessary to personally participate in the collection of material, in the preparation and organisation of sea expeditions. Lev Ivanovich Moskalyov is the author of about 100 scientific works, participated in numerous radio and television programs, the author of the popular science book "Masters of the depths".