Unique museum was damaged by Russian strike on Odesa

As a result of the Russian shelling of Odesa on the night of November 15, the buildings of the Odesa Mechnikov National University were damaged. In particular, the unique paleontological museum, which is considered to be one of the best in the world.

This was reported by the rector of the Mechnikov ONU, Vyacheslav Truba.

"Yesterday, a significant number of windows in the main building of the university, in the building of the Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmacy of ONU were damaged by the shock wave. Windows in the Large Chemical and Large Physics Auditoriums and in one of the halls of the paleontological museum were damaged. There is also some damage in dormitory No. 2, located on Novoselska Street," he said.

What is known about the museum

The Odesa Paleontological Museum is one of the oldest in Ukraine. It has been around since 1873. The museum contains the richest regional collection of fossil remains collected in the south of the East European Platform (Ukraine and Moldova), and unique selections of fossil fauna and flora — a total of over 60 thousand exhibits. The most important are seven complete skeletons of vertebrate animals that existed in our region. These are the skeletons of a mastodon, a miohippus, a paraceratherium, a camelop, an elephant, a cave bear, and a mammoth. The Odesa Museum is among the top ten paleontological museums in the world.

It should be reminded that the ambulatory in the city center was also damaged by Russian shelling. We also reported why the Russian attack led to a large amount of destruction in Odesa.