The exhibition Centuries-old Yugra presented in Presidential Library

From September 16 to December 12, 2024, 2024 the Presidential Library gives the opportunity to visit an exhibition celebrating the history and culture of Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug - Yugra, based on an eight-volume series of books titled Academic History of Yugra.

The exhibition is dedicated to the 250th anniversary of one of the most significant events in world and Russian science - the Great Academic Expeditions (1764-1774). St. Petersburg was the place where their history began, thanks to the initiative of Mikhail Lomonosov and Empress Catherine the Great. Two and a half centuries ago, the first comprehensive research of Ugra was organized, and it was continued by generations of prominent Russian and foreign scholars. The Academic Chronicle of Yugra is a unique example in Russia, serving as the foundation for the eight-volume scientific publication, Academic History of Yugra. This publication includes materials from recent expeditions and archival research.

The exposition at the Presidential Library was arranged in chronological order, following the structure of the eight-volume publication Academic History of Yugra. This publication was created over a period of five years with the collaboration of several institutions, including the Institute of Russian History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Institute of History and Archaeology of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy, the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography, the Ob-Ugric Institute, and the Ural Federal University and Surgut State University. The launch of the publication took place on May 7th, 2024 at the International Exhibition and Forum "Russia" in Moscow.

Yugra is a leader in oil and gas production and an energy hub, but it is also a region that has made significant strides in education, science, culture, tourism, and sports. It is a region with high living standards for its population.

This exhibition allows visitors to travel from Saint-Petersburg to large region of Russia, learn about its rich history, admire its unique northern landscapes, meet local residents, and learn about their stories.

The exhibits include authentic objects and documents from various collections, such as the Museum of Nature and Man, the State Library of Yugra, the Geology Museum, the Oil and Gas Museum, the Ethnographic Open-Air Museum "Torum Ma", the State Archives of Yugra, the Sports Glory Museum of the Yugra Olympic Reserve College, and the Komarov Botanical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

The exhibition presents some of the most valuable and fascinating museum treasures:

- A mammoth vertebra, pierced by the spear of a man who lived in the area 13.5 thousand years ago, is a witness to the northernmost border of Paleolithic human settlement in Eurasia.

- The Gospel of Teaching from the Kondinsky Trinity Monastery, the first bastion of Christianization on the territory of Yugra, in 1686.

- Seal of Peter the Great's associate, Alexander Danilovich Menshikov.

- Collection of archaeological artifacts from the Berezovsky settlement of the 17th-18th centuries, one of the first settlements in Yugra.

-Traditional women's clothing of the Khanty and Mansi indigenous peoples, crafted by renowned modern artisans.

- Herbarium samples collected by Peter Pallas, a prominent researcher of the 18th century, and samples of the district's first oil discovered in 1960.

- Olympic medals awarded to Yugra athletes, and much more.

Interactive spaces allow visitors to feel and experience Yugra by engaging with traditional games played by the Ob Ugrian people in their traditional dwellings, known as plague houses. Visitors can also touch oil and watch newsreels and films about the region's life.

The exhibition Centuries-old Yugra will run until December 12, 2024. To visit the exhibition one must pre-register by phone (812) 334-25-14 or send an email to excursion@prlib.ru.