From Russia with Love: Caribbean and Latin American collections in St. Petersburg
It is common knowledge that that the city of St. Petersburg has some of the largest and most important first-class museums in the world – every guidebook or travel blog will praise the wonders of the Hermitage, the Winter Palace, and the Russian Museum. Lesser known, however, are the interesting Latin American and Caribbean collections of archaeological and ethnographic objects, drawings, and collection documentation also kept by the Russian Academy of Sciences, in particular at the Kunstkamera Museum.
The Kunstkamera Museum
The Kunstkamera is in fact one of the most visited museums in St Petersburg, with particular emphasis on the galleries that showcase the collection of Tsar Peter the Great, assembled in the early 18th century and containing the ‘anatomical curiosities’ he acquired from Dutch naturalists Albertus Seba and Frederik Ruysch.
In that sense, the Kunstkamera still keeps the spirit of collecting of Peter the Great’s era, when early modern scholars, rulers, and burghers assembled collections of curiosities.
Next to these historical collections, the Kunstkamera also holds treasures of world archaeology and anthropology. Its Latin American collection includes almost 15 thousand objects coming from peoples who lived from Tierra del Fuego to North America. Its Caribbean collection has a particularly interesting history. In September 1964, two Russian scientists went to Cuba on a mission of the Russian Academy of Sciences to see the collections and exchange scientific knowledge with the then recently created Academia Nacional de Ciencias de Cuba. During that mission, the scientists discussed the archaeological collections of the Cuban Academy and just two years later, in 1966, the Anthropology Department of the Cuban Academy presented a collection of archaeological material from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Peru to the its Russian counterpart. Despite being rather small in size (less than 100 archaeological objects), this Caribbean collection contains some interesting items from Cuba, such as a set of shark teeth pendants used to make a necklace and a greenstone axe. The collection also contains other lithic tools and some pottery.
The highlights of this Caribbean collection had been on display at the Kunstkamera until the 1970s, but unfortunately had to be taken down – together with the rest of the Latin American collection – because of the limited space available for exhibitions. While the Caribbean material is still in storage, some 400 items from Latin America are now on show as part of the recently opened new L.A. permanent gallery. Visitors to the Kunstkamera can admire ethnographic artefacts from the G.I. Langsdorff 19th-century expedition in Brazil, Peruvian ceramics, and materials from the Shuar, Munduruku, Caduveo, and Tierra del Fogo indigenous peoples, among others. With a traditional exhibition style that even includes life-sized mannequins, this exhibition is certainly worth a visit. It is our hope that in the future some of the museums’ interesting Caribbean objects can also be incorporated into the show!
By Mariana Françozo