Museum of Natural History Yesterday I invited my seven-year-old daughter to go to the Museum of natural history. Although this place is one of the top liners among other parents, we have not been there before. This museum was founded in 1907 and named after Charles Darwin, an English scientist whose theory of Evolution was popular in those times and, then, became a part of the Soviet materialistic ideology. Today the exposition of the museum is also built according to this theory. It offers a lot of information about a genesis of life and a variety of living beings on the Earth. We saw a number of stuffed animals, that delighted my daughter and depressed me. Their superficial naturality combined with empty glassy eyes communicated to me an oppressive feeling of doom. I assume that in the past hunting and making such “statues” could inspire and motivate natural studies, but today such methods seem to be cruel. Besides stuffed animals there were many paintings on the walls. Made in rather rude manner they did not attract nor me neither my daughter. As I can judge, children usually don’t appreciate observing glass cases with exhibits, but they love to communicate with them. Children usually prefer active participation to passivity.In the Darwin museum there were not so many interactive things, but each of such things attracted little visitors. For example, there was a balance that counted one’s weight not in kilograms or pounds, but in parrots, snakes, dogs, elephants, and whales. There were buttons to push and to listen birds’ or frogs’ voices. Finally there were statues of dinosaurs that were moving and growling. Even though my daughter and I had a good and interesting day, I felt a little bit disappointed. I expected to see something more than this. The most impressive thing for me was a building of the museum. Constructed in the late 1980s it is a typical example of the Soviet brutalism. Massive and monolith pilasters are divided by tight windows. A heavy pyramid on the top reminds examples of the ancient architecture or even primitive huts and caves. By its look this building preaches fundamentality and seriousness of the scientific studies.