Zoological Museum of Kyiv University (Zoological Museum of Kyiv University) is a working museum at Kyiv National Taras Shevchenko University. It is located in the red building of the University. The history of the museum goes back to 1834. It is one of the largest university zoological museums in Europe by the volume of scientific funds.
The Zoological Museum of the Kiev University was founded in 1834 on the base of collections of the zoological study of Volynsky lyceum, which functioned in Kremenets. The botanist Vilibald Besser, who devoted almost 25 years to this work, was responsible for filling the collection of the zoological study.
Besser was assisted by Anton Andrzejovsky, who later took on the role of head of the zoological study. The lyceum was closed after the outbreak of the Polish uprising in 1830 and moved to Kiev, where the Imperial University of St. Vladimir was created.
In 1834 the rector Mikhail Maksimovich initiated the creation of the Zoological study in the university and it became a part of the Philosophical department. Later, from 1850 to 1919 the study was organized in the physics and mathematics department. The available funds of the Volyn Lyceum were supplemented by the collections of the University of Vilna and the Vilna Medical and Surgical Academy. The total size of the funds by 1835 amounted to 28 thousand exhibits of various animals.
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