Moscow Paleontological Museum

The Yuri Orlov Palaeontological Museum in south-western Moscow is one of the largest fossil museums in the world, with more than 5,000 objects on display. It was founded in 1937 as the public arm of the Palaeontological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences and moved in 1987 to a striking brick building decorated with ceramic reliefs by sculptor Mikhail Shemyakin. Its name honours former institute director Yuri Orlov. The collection includes complete skeletons of a Tarbosaurus from the Gobi Desert, a Diplodocus from the American West and mammal specimens from Siberian permafrost. Particularly impressive is the gallery of ceramic murals tracing evolutionary history. Six halls on two floors are arranged chronologically from the Precambrian to the Quaternary; the museum is a family favourite on rainy Moscow weekends.