Tartu ülikooli looduslookabinetist erialamuuseumideni

The history of the Natural History Museum of the University of Tartu dates back to the year 1802 when the university’s Naturalien-Kabinet (museum), received its first collection on the 25th of March. However, the decision to establish the natural history collections for teaching had already been made in March 1801, when the head of the university’s trust institution decided to buy a collection of minerals, fossils and marine organisms in Mitau (Jelgava). We don’t know whether or not this collection arrived in Tartu, but it shows how important the natural history collections were even before the opening of the university. Since the beginning of the 19th century, the natural history collections represented a wide range of natural sciences: mineralogy, paleontology, zoology and botany. The first director of the museum, Professor Gottfried Albrecht Germann (1773–1809), carried out fieldwork collecting plants, birds and insects. The museum received many donations, but collections also grew through purchases and exchanges. The very first purchase was made in 1802, and it consisted of 1920 minerals from the collection of J. C. W. Voigt (1752–1821). The next director of the museum, Carl Friedrich von Ledebour (1785–1851, director 1811–22), divided the museum’s collection into two parts: the zoological collection and the geological collection, and they were placed into separate halls. All herbariums were handed over to the botanical garden. In 1820 the university established a museum of mineralogy and in 1822 a separate museum for zoology. These museums were managed by the professors of mineralogy and the professors of zoology, and the focus of collecting was linked to their research work. From 1820 to 1841 the director of the museum of mineralogy was Otto Moritz Ludwig von Engelhard (1779–1842), who collected thousands of minerals and rocks; the collections grew to 12 800 items. His successor, Professor Constantin von Grewingk (1819–87) even increased the number of geological objects in the collection about twofold. The collection of meteorites grew from 3 pieces to 140 and the museum of zoology handed over its paleontological collection. In 1858 the museum moved into a new location and a new display of collections was made by Grewingk. In 1863 Grewingk published a collection catalogue for the wider public. The first director of the museum of zoology during 1822–31, Professor Johann Friedrich Eschscholtz (1793–1831), expanded the collections through purchases and exchanges. Eschscholtz brought about 2 400 specimens from Kotzebue’s expedition around the world. Unfortunately, the museum lost its collections in the fire of 1829, and the zoological collections had to be collected again. Professor Adolph Eduard Grube (1812–80), director of the museum during 1843–56, set up a collection of invertebrates. Besides this, the museum received many donations, and the number of specimens increased to 9 000. In the beginning of the 20th century there were already 16 648 specimens in the museum of zoology. Already from the beginning of 19th century the natural history collections were opened to the public. Several positive reviews are available from German travellers, who visited Tartu and the museums in the middle of the 19th century. There was a large exhibition about natural and medical sciences including a display of the collections in 1910. The exhibition was organized by professors and students, and more than 4 600 people visited the exhibition in the university’s main building and the riding hall. In 1916, the University of Tartu had to evacuate all its property to central Russia, because of World War I. The collections of geology, zoology and botany were sent to Voronezh and Perm. According to the peace treaty between the Estonian Republic and Soviet Russia in 1920, the property of the university had to be returned, but most of the museum’s collections were not. The museum of geology got back 2/3 of its paleontological collection and less than half of its mineralogical collection. The museum of zoology lost almost everything: only 16 skeletons and stuffed animals and a few boxes with small mammals were returned.