In the very heart of Saint-Petersburg situated a unique museum of the Russian Ethnography where you can get acquainted with primordially Russian culture of people living in different parts of Russia. The collection of the museum contains about half a million exhibits reflecting the life and culture of 150 peoples of Russia. It began to function as a part of the Ethnographic Department of the Russian Museum. In 1902-1913 a magnificent mansion, adjoining the Mikhailovsky Palace, was constructed to the architect V.Svinjin's project. The world famous ethnographic museum was founded here by the decree of Nicholas II in honour of his father, emperor Alexander III, a fervent admirer of the domestic culture and owner of a wonderful collection of folk arts, and in 1934 it became an independent institution, which was renamed the State Museum of the Ethnography of the Peoples of the USSR in 1948. The museum got its current name in 1992. It is necessary to notice that besides of objects devoted to the culture and everyday life of the peoples of Russia such as: domestic items, folk costumes, utensils and objects of ritual presented in the form of lifesize models, carpets and wrought iron objects, religious wooden sculpture, it also contain objects which belonged to small nationalities with population of 100-200 people. Moreover the museum owns a Special Storeroom, containing a great variety of national ornaments, weaponry and objects, made of precious metals, pearl and precious and semiprecious stones, a collection of gold folk jewelry and other ritzy stuff.