Over 110 years: Lviv Museum of Natural History prepares to welcome the mammoth

"Ice Age: The Return of the Mammoth to Lviv" is part of the unique exhibition "Symphony of Life", which is being prepared at the Lviv Museum of Natural History of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. Until the end of this year, the main restoration works are going to be completed here. This part of the exhibition, created with the support of the “Dynamic Museum” project of Rinat Akhmetov Foundation, will open in the second half of next year, as the project manager Natalia Dziubenko has informed.

The “Dynamic Museum” project was launched in 2012. Then Rinat Akhmetov Foundation won a grant to resume the work of the museum, which was closed for visitors for more than 20 years, as well as to create a new exposition project.

“Over 100 thousand people have already visited temporary exhibitions as well as educational and informational events. But we want to give the museum an opportunity not only to return to public space, but to become interesting, up-to-date and popular among Lviv residents and visitors of the city. The creation of a new exposition part is an integral part of this work,“ Natalia Dziubenko noted.

The central exhibits of the future exposition will be the unique prehistoric restored mammoth and woolly rhinoceros. The finds were discovered 110 years ago in Ivano-Frankivsk region near the village of Starunia.

Embalmed, perfectly preserved remains of the mammoth were found in the ozocerite diggings, and next to them, at a slightly greater depth, a carcass of a woolly rhinoceros was found. The finds are kept in the funds of the State Museum of Natural History of the National Academy of Science in Lviv and Krakow  Nature Museum of the Institute of Systematics and Evolution of Animals of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Museologists emphasize that these findings are unique for Eastern Europe.

Rinat Akhmetov Foundation noted that during the creation of the new exposition, not only the restoration of exhibits and repairs take place, but also the design of three halls equipped with modern multimedia.

“The mission of the Foundation’s ‘Dynamic Museum’ project is to introduce the best world practices in Ukrainian museums with high development potential and motivation, to become a locomotive of positive changes in the field of museum business in Ukraine, as well as an example for the museum sector of the country,” Natalia Dziubenko said.