Kunstkamera

The Kunstkamera is a Russian public museum of science located on the Universitetskaya Embankment in Saint Petersburg, facing the Winter Palace. The Kunstkamera is formally organized as the Russian Academy of Science's Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography - abbreviated in Russian as the МАЭ or МАЭ РАН. Its collection was first opened at the Summer Palace by Peter the Great in 1714 as Russia's first public museum. Enlarged by purchases from the Dutch collectors Albertus Seba and Frederik Ruysch, the museum was moved to its present location in 1727. Although most known for its "grotesques," the museum houses nearly 2,000,000 items, including materials from various non-Russian countries.