Craniological collections of the department of normal anatomy of the military medical academy-the national treasure and unique base for scientific research

Objective: to present information about the craniological collections of the fundamental museum of one of the oldest anatomical departments of our country - the Department of Normal Anatomy of the Military Medical Academy. This richest collection of skulls has more than 6000 copies and is divided into 6 collections: 1) unique skull preparations; 2) craniological collection of Professor V. L. Gruber (1340 copies); 3) craniological collection of Professor A. I. Tarenetsky (1004 copies); 4) comparative anatomical collection of skulls of various animals (125 copies); 5) collection of skulls of fetuses, newborns and children of different ages (138 copies); 6) craniological collection of Professor B.A. Dolgo-Saburov (4251 copies). The article provides a complete and detailed description of each of the six collections, examines the history of their creation, analyzes their composition and scientific significance. It is safe to say that this craniological collections are national treasure (there are no equal exhibits in Russia either in number, content or value): a fundamental educational and material base for teaching medical craniology and anthropology, as well as a fundamental base for performing applied scientific research. These collections make it possible to compare the cranioscopic and craniometric parameters of various national and ethnic groups of the Russian population in the XIX and XX centuries, including age, sex and typical features.