Orlov Museum

The Museum of Paleontology named after Y. A. Orlov (Orlov Museum for short) was founded by Paleontological Institute of Russian Academy of Sciencies in 1937 prior to the XVII session of the International Geological Congress.

Present address - 123 Profsoyuznaya street, Moscow.

It's known as one of the biggest Natural history museums in the world. It contains public exhibits representing almost every type of fossil organism. Particularly well represented are dinosaurs from Mongolia, therapsids from the Perm region of Russia qhich date back to the Permian Period, and Precambrian fossils from Siberia.

History
Since founded in 1937 it was first located at 16 Bolshaya Kaluzhskaya street (Lenin's Avenue today), Moscow. Area of expositions was 700 sq. m. During the Great Patriotic War the museum was closed and the major part of collection relocated to Alma-Ata.

In 1944 museum was reopened for the general public, but in 1954 it was closed again due to the shortage of display space.

In 1965 the USSR Council of Ministers granted 2 million rubles for the construction of the new museum building. However, construction works started only in 1972.

The renewed museum met the first visitors in 1987.