We would like to welcome you to the state museum of the History of Religion. It’s the one museum in Russia, and one of few in the world, which details the history of religion from ancient times to the present day. The exposition includes historical and cultural objects from different epochs and nations: from the Paleolithic age to the European Middle Ages, from Ancient Egypt to contemporary history; Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism. The oldest exhibits date back to 6000 BC.
The museum was opened in 1932 on the initiative of Russian historian of religion, ethnographer, anthropologist and its first director Vladimir Bogoraz-Tan. Unlike other so-called “anti-religious” museums, which were founded in that time in different cities, the Museum of the History of Religion was sponsored by the Academy of Science. The main purpose of its work was not atheistic propaganda, but deep scientific research and public demonstration of the history of the development of mankind’s religious concepts.
According to this idea, our museum tour will start from the Stone Age, when the first Homo sapiens began to think about the essence of several natural phenomena, the causes behind the movement of celestial objects, and the riddle of life and death.
