In the village of Voskhod, not far from Novosibirsk, there is a unique museum that has no analogues in Russia. Its exhibition is dedicated to world burial culture and includes over 30 thousand exhibits. Sightseeing tours here can last more than two hours, immersing visitors in the history of rituals and traditions of different peoples. The director of the institution, Tatyana Yakushina, told more about the mysterious museum.
Museum collection
The Museum of World Funeral Culture was opened in 2012 on the territory of the Novosibirsk crematorium. Its founder Sergey Yakushin devoted more than 30 years to collecting the collection. The exhibits include jewelry, rare objects of ritual art, death masks, and even a real tram car. After Yakushin’s death in 2022, his wax figure was installed in the museum: if you pick up the phone receiver on the table, you can hear Sergey Borisovich’s voice.
The uniqueness of the exhibition
The Novosibirsk Museum is the only one in Russia and one of the few in the world where burial traditions of different eras and cultures are presented. Analogues exist in Germany, Austria, Spain, the USA and China, but they are devoted exclusively to local rituals. The museum in Novosibirsk is included in the UNESCO program for the preservation of world cultural heritage and introduces visitors to the rites of pre-Christian times, Christianity, Buddhism, Islam and other religions.
Special exhibitions
In 2022, the museum launched the exhibition “How Not to Die Young”, dedicated to infectious diseases that affected the fate of nations. The exhibition features mannequins with signs of plague, smallpox, syphilis and other epidemics, as well as figures of plague doctors and people in Soviet protective suits.
One of the most striking parts of the museum is the collection of mummies. A copy of the mummy of Ramses the Great is housed in the second hall. The exhibits also include a copy of the mummy of an Indian of the Chachapoya tribe – the so-called “screaming mummies” – and a recreated mummy of a bog man found in Denmark in 1950. In addition, visitors can see a copy of the famous Princess of Ukok.
The figure of Lenin is of particular interest: they say that the model looks even better than the original from the Mausoleum. Tour guides talk about the reasons for embalming and the myths associated with this process.
Funeral attributes and transport
The museum exhibits collections of antique hearses, coffins and boats from the 18th–19th centuries. One of the valuable exhibits was a boat-coffin donated by the Seversky Museum. The museum’s special pride is the death masks of famous personalities: Pushkin, Yesenin, Mayakovsky, Gogol, Dostoevsky, Stalin and others.
On the street in front of the building there is a Memorial Park. Here you can meet a camel named Pharaoh, bought by Sergey Yakushin in 2010. The animal is sociable, but does not like sudden movements. The park is equipped with walking paths, bike paths and a playground with dinosaur figures.
Open-air exhibits
The outdoor exhibition features tram No. 13, a model RVZ-6 tram that ran around Novosibirsk in the 1980s. In the future, it is planned to install an old heated tram car, reminiscent of Admiral Kolchak’s gold trains that passed through Novo-Nikolaevsk.
Each exhibit in the museum is connected to a certain story. For example, a cart used to transport the body of the writer Alexander Griboyedov after his tragic death in Tehran is being prepared for exhibition.
Love stories and themed events
As part of the Museum Night, an exhibition dedicated to the love of Nikolai Rezanov and Maria de la Concepcion was organized. On their graves in Krasnoyarsk and Monterey, plaques with touching inscriptions were installed – “I will never forget you” and “I will never see you”.
The museum regularly holds events with an educational focus: Gogol festivities, quests based on “The Master and Margarita”, Velesov night. According to the director, shock content is a thing of the past – now the emphasis is on cultural education.
Interesting facts and attendance
Next to the museum there is a model of the cemetery with unique finds, including a cross raised from the bottom of the Ob Reservoir – evidence of the existence of Masonic communities in Berdsk.
Visitors often ask unusual questions. Once they asked if it was possible to make a diamond from ashes. It turned out that this technology was developed in the 90s by Novosibirsk scientists, although they failed to obtain a patent.
Today, the museum remains popular at any time of year. Tours last more than two hours and are often held for several groups at a time, especially on holidays.
How to get to the Museum of Death
If you do not have a personal car, you can get to the museum by taxi or by bus #203 from the Berezovaya Roshcha metro station or #399 from the Uchitelskaya stop.
Stay at the Hotel N in Novosibirsk!
If you are planning to get acquainted with the Museum of Death and other interesting places in Novosibirsk, choose comfortable accommodation at the “Hotel N”. Convenient location, cozy rooms and hospitable staff will make your trip pleasant and unforgettable. Book a room in advance so that your vacation in Novosibirsk will be at the highest level!
