You can find Russia’s only World Museum of Funeral Culture, located on the outskirts of Novosibirsk, in any guidebook to this Siberian city. The museum entrance photo is orange.World Museum of Funeral Culture aka Museum of Death located next to a crematorium regarding an hour’s drive from the center.The founder of this museum is Novosibirsk businessman Sergey Yakushin. His concern for funeral culture from the 1990s when he was diagnosed with cancer. Serge Yakushin organized an international funeral exhibition in 1992, opening the city’s first crematorium in 2003 and the Death Museum in 2012.“At first, I did not believe that the museum would be of interest to people,” says Tatyana Yakushina, the museum’s director today and wife of son Sergey. “When we opened, I was sitting here alone and if three people came to see it in one day, it was a huge hit.” Photo copy of the mummy of Vladimir Lenin.Today, it is one of the famous museum best in the city. “Of course, the topic of death is taboo, no one wants to think regarding scary things, but in reality, it is the only inevitable event in everyone’s life. Everything else may not happen,” Tatiana said.Yakushin died in 2022, but he left behind a great legacy – regarding 30 thousand artifacts related to burial traditions. They are housed in three separate pavilions, which can take visitors hours to explore.The first and largest room is dedicated to the culture of remembrance in Victorian England. There are antique carvings, various mourning robes, jewelry and medallions with locks of the deceased’s hair, as well as various urns for ashes.The second room tells regarding funerals in different cultures and religions: Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Catholicism, Orthodoxy.The third hall has an exhibit dedicated to the museum’s 10th anniversary, ranging from the first exhibits to themed displays regarding the Chernobyl accident. You’ll see skeletons, coffins, mourning robes, and even creepy photographs. Photo: RBTH.
You can find Russia’s only World Museum of Funeral Culture, located on the outskirts of Novosibirsk, in any guidebook to this Siberian city. The museum entrance photo is orange.
World Museum of Funeral Culture aka Museum of Death located next to a crematorium regarding an hour’s drive from the center.
The founder of this museum is Novosibirsk businessman Sergey Yakushin. His concern for funeral culture from the 1990s when he was diagnosed with cancer.
Serge Yakushin organized an international funeral exhibition in 1992, opening the city’s first crematorium in 2003 and the Death Museum in 2012.
“At first, I did not believe that the museum would be of interest to people,” says Tatyana Yakushina, the museum’s director today and wife of son Sergey. “When we opened, I was sitting here alone and if three people came to see it in one day, it was a huge hit.” Photo copy of the mummy of Vladimir Lenin.
Today, it is one of the famous museum best in the city. “Of course, the topic of death is taboo, no one wants to think regarding scary things, but in reality, it is the only inevitable event in everyone’s life. Everything else may not happen,” Tatiana said.
Yakushin died in 2022, but he left behind a great legacy – regarding 30 thousand artifacts related to burial traditions. They are housed in three separate pavilions, which can take visitors hours to explore.
The first and largest room is dedicated to the culture of remembrance in Victorian England. There are antique carvings, various mourning robes, jewelry and medallions with locks of the deceased’s hair, as well as various urns for ashes.
The second room deals with funerals in different cultures and religions: Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Catholicism, Orthodoxy.
The third hall has an exhibit dedicated to the museum’s 10th anniversary, ranging from the first exhibits to themed exhibits regarding the Chernobyl accident. You’ll see skeletons, coffins, mourning robes, and even creepy photographs. Photo: RBTH.
