There are several museums at the Makhtumkuli Turkmen State University, including an exhibition dedicated to the work and life of the Turkmen poet Makhtumkuli Fragi, an exhibition of archeology and ethnography, a nature museum, as well as a large collection of natural stones presented as part of the geological museum.
The head of the geological museum is Anatoly Bushmakin, Candidate of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences, mining engineer-geologist, who was visited by ORIENT.
Anatoly Grigoryevich is not just a curator of the museum’s valuables, almost every stone and mineral presented in the exhibition was personally extracted by him.He participated in many expeditions and geological exploration works, compiled several geological and metallurgical maps, and visited all parts of Turkmenistan.
He brought unique finds from each trip and today the collection of the geological museum contains more than 1,200 samples of rocks and fossils.
“The Geological Museum is constantly open not only for students, but also for curious schoolchildren.Children come here to get acquainted with the natural resources that our land holds, says Anatoly Bushmakin.
For young people, I conduct excursions and give lectures, because where, if not here, can you clearly see the entire periodic table?” Some ancient artifacts date back billions of years.
In the paleontological section of the exhibition, you can see fragments of fossilized trees and huge shark teeth.Experienced traveler Anatoly Bushmakin brought to the museum’s collection a jar of oil extracted from the field in Khazar (Cheleken) from the first drilling well, which appeared during the work carried out by the oil company of the Nobel Brothers.
Within the verge of the museum there are nine nature reserves operating on the territory of the country. But the most surprising thing is the natural layout of the Kunyaurgen meteorite, which fell in the north of Turkmenistan in 1998. Anatoly Bushmakin studied the iron-stone meteorite and personally recreated its life-size copy.
“I love to draw and in each of my trips I spend time doing plain-air, says the geologist.I always take my easel, brushes, and paints with me.
In my youth, I was fond of drawing and airplanes, even graduated from pilot courses.The flight was not on the cards, but the drawing skills were very useful to me in the profession of a geologist.
As a sculptor, I create models of unique localities that have impressed me on my many trips.”
Recently, Anatoly Grigoryevich completed work on creating a model of the Bayadag mud volcano, which is located in the Balkhan region.An exact copy in a reduced format conveys not only the overall picture, but also the colors typical for the area.
A small lake located next to the volcano is a source of useful water, which crystal iodine and bromine are extracted from.
The museum’s collection also includes plaster casts of dinosaur footprints and a general panorama of the dinosaur plateau, located in the south-east of Turkmenistan in the Koitendag Mountains.
Thanks to the compositions created by the hands of the geologist, students and schoolchildren can travel all over the country without leaving the museum premises.The life-size tyrannosaurus rex and the Koitendag karst cave model are also impressive.
“I worked on the creation of one of the caves for about a year, says Anatoly Grigoryevich.This is a unique place in its essence, everyone should visit it at least once in their life.
In an artificially created cave, I tried to convey the atmosphere of a nature reserve: stalactites hanging from the ceiling, an underground reservoir where a fish without a head lives the Koitendag blind char, and many other things.
The cave is equipped with intricate lighting and is illuminated from the inside.”
The exhibition area, full of exhibits, as if under a magnifying glass, reveals the diversity of the Turkmen nature and its richness.