Memorable dates of Russia: The exhibition, dedicated to the 170th anniversary of the Russian Geographical Society opened in Saint-Petersburg

6 October 2015
Source: The Russian Geographical Society

October 1, 2015 in the Headquarters of the Russian Geographical Society in Saint-Petersburg took place the opening of the exhibition, dedicated to the 170th anniversary of the RGS.  The event is timed to the meeting of the founders of the Society.

The Russian Geographical Society was founded in 1845 by Imperial order of the Emperor Nicholas I. Among the founders of the RGS were eminent state and military leaders, prominent scientists, famous explorers. The main objective of the organization was a comprehensive study of the native land.

The exhibition features exhibits from the unique collection of the RGS: founding documents, drawings, maps, photographs, medals, personal items of famous travelers and other relics. These are portraits of Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich and Nikolai Mikhailovich - Chairman of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society, and the sketches of the architect Gavriil Baranovsky, by his project was built its own building company, and honorary diplomas to the RGS for participation in the International Geographical Congresses and Exhibitions.

 A separate section of the exhibition is devoted to the work of the Company during the Great Patriotic War. Among the valuable exhibits: the blockade diary of Acting scientific secretary Vitaly Romishovsky, freezing map of the Lake Ladoga, with which was built ice road of life, letters of fighters of evacuation hospital №2010, housed in a building of the during the war, and a number of other artifacts of the period.

The section "History of Polar Research of late XIX - early XX century" presents materials about the Company's participation in the organization of the I International Polar Year (1882-1883), documents of the Hydrographic Expedition of the Arctic Ocean (GESLO), during which made the first in the history of the Northern Sea Route through voyage from Vladivostok to Arkhangelsk.

The section "International relations" presents diplomas of the Netherlands, Berlin and other geographical societies that were rewarded by the travelers; materials of foreign honorary member of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society.