Museum rarities of Mister X

Location: Exhibition complex/ 3rd floor / Exhibition hall #7

Alexey Stepanovich Khomyakov (1872-1952) can be called the "Russian Walter Rothschild". Just like the British magnate and eccentric zoologist A.S. Khomyakov was an avid collector of natural history values and left a noticeable mark on the culture of his country. Rare editions and huge hand-colored folios, miniature sparkling hummingbirds and bizarre birds-of-paradise, collections of bright tropical butterflies and beetles, stuffed extinct birds and exotic mammals — all of the above and more that had belonged to him in 1919 became part of the collections of the Darwin Museum. This fact forever changed the “status” of the museum and turned it into a “repository of rarities”, which are priceless from scientific and historical point of view. Many items in Russia are presented in a single copy, and for the duration of the exhibition for the first time in a long time they will leave closed storage. Muscovites and guests of the capital will have a unique chance to get to know them at the exhibition "Museum rarities of Mister X".

Before the October Revolution the collector hastily left the country. His further fate remained a mystery for 100 years. In the year of the 150th anniversary of A.S. Khomyakov we will present the public the results of a large museum investigation, during which we managed to restore the biography of “Mister X” and to find his portrait as well as some details of his life in Russia and abroad.

An exciting detective story and a meeting with the pearls of the collection of the Darwin Museum awaits you. This is the only skeleton of dodo in Russia - a large extinct pigeon from the island of Mauritius and the prototype of the famous Dodo bird from Lewis Carroll's Wonderland. A stuffed great auk which was destroyed by human in 1844, and a stuffed passenger pigeon which used to be the most numerous (up to 5 billion individuals) bird species on our planet and then was exterminated by people in just one century. The liveliness of plumage of stuffed bright tropical birds still admire us. They were created in the end of the 19th century in the best taxidermy companies in Europe and Russia and costed Khomyakov a fortune.

For the first time a sheet with the image of the Carolina parakeet from the rare album "Birds of America" by the American illustrator and ornithologist John James Audubon is exhibited. The Carolina parakeet is the only parrot species found in the eastern United States. It was completely destroyed at the beginning of the 20th century under the influence of European colonization.

Specially for the exhibition illustrations from the books of the outstanding ornithologist and artist of the 19th century John Gould were digitized. Gould devoted his whole life to birds and has published 49 volumes with three thousand fascinating color illustrations. All books were produced in a limited edition - about 300 copies. They were huge (54x35 cm), which made it possible to depict many animals in life size. The outstanding artists of their time worked on creating illustrations. Every visitor of the exhibition will be able to see these unusually "live" and bright images of birds, recognized as masterpieces of animalistic art, and virtually touch Mr. X's book rarities.

Stuffed great auk, Pinguinus impennis (L.,1758) Iceland 1913

Dodo skeleton, Raphus cucullatus (Didus ineptus) late 19th century

Gould J., Richter G.K. Chinese monal (from Gould J. Birds of Asia, 1869-1873)

Wolf J., Richter G. K. The Mandarin Duck (from Gould J. Birds of Asia, 1853)

Lear E. Pink Pelican. Birds of Europe (from Gould J. Birds of Europe, 1837)

Gould J., Richter G.K. Bronze Hummingbird (from Goultd J. The Family of Hummingbirds, 1861)

Portrait of Alexey Khomyakov, 1892

Актуальные мероприятия