Museum of Optics in St. Petersburg: exposition, address, mode of operation

On the first floor of the historic house of the merchant Eliseev in St. Petersburg, for several years, the Optimum Optics Museum has been operating. It was created to popularize science and stimulate further study of optics. The museum consists of several halls. Each of them contains a lot of interesting exhibits, which are physical instruments, as well as original installations.

Hall of modern holography

This part of the museum exposition presents the achievements of science in the field of optical clones creation. As objects for creating ultra-realistic holograms were chosen thirteen jewelry masterpieces by the masters of the famous Faberge factory. The optocouples of these works of arts and crafts were a great success at the exhibition Magic of Light. They are full-color visual images that are easy to take for a real subject.

In 2015, this collection of optical clones of works of art, which are demonstrated in the St. Petersburg Museum of Feberge, received the international prize BEST OF YEAR.

Visitors to the hall of modern holography will also see digital op- toklons. These amazing works of scientific thought, created by the staff of the ITMO University, in the short term can reveal hitherto incredible opportunities for using holography in various spheres of our life. Indeed, today in many museums of the world one can meet the gido-optoclones, and during the concerts of the superstars of the world show business, their visual counterparts have been dancing alongside them for a long time already.

Hall of history of holography

The Optics Museum in St. Petersburg offers its visitors to get acquainted with the sources of technologies that allow creating optical clones.

They learn that the basis for the creation of holographic images are the ideas of Hungarian physicist Dani Gabor, put forward by him back in 1948. For them to be implemented, it took more than 15 years. Only the invention of lasers, which are sources of coherent and monochromatic radiation, made it possible to develop a method for recording 3-dimensional images. It was proposed by Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Yu. Denisyuk.

Hall of glass

Those who visit the Museum of Optics in St. Petersburg, will also be able to make a kind of journey into the depths of centuries. On the end wall of the Glass Room there is a panorama telling how the ancient glassmakers worked. The main exhibit of this part of the exposition is the Abbe catalog. It is a collection of 144 samples of optical glasses assembled under the supervision of Academician GT Petrovsky. This collection has no analogues and is the pride of the museum.

Another interesting object that is in the Glass Room is a computer kiosk, in which there is a touch screen for visualizing the Abbe diagram. In addition, there you can see the necessary materials (lime, quartz sand, lead oxide, soda, lithium oxide) and a set for cooking glass, consisting of a crucible and a mixer.

Ballroom of Tesla

The Museum of Optics in St. Petersburg is the place where everyone can see near, how lightning is born. "Plasma balls" were invented by Nikola Tesla. Later they were modernized by Bill Parquet.

A plasma sphere is a glass sphere, inside which there is an electrode. High voltage is applied to it. As a result of physical processes, the balloon is filled with multicolored lightning.

In the hall where the Tesla Balls are on display, visitors will also see unusual walls. They can be painted with light, and also photographed their "frozen" shadow, which was displayed on a surface covered with a special composition.

Ultraviolet Hall

The Optics Museum in St. Petersburg provides an opportunity to observe the phenomenon of luminescence. It consists in the nonequilibrium illumination of certain substances under the influence of ultraviolet radiation. In the hall dedicated to this type of radiation, visitors can:

• Listen to a mini-lecture guide who will understand the language of the peculiarities of these or other optical phenomena;
• Check your banknotes for authenticity, using a special UV-emitter;
• Draw glowing pictures;
• Learn to distinguish harmless fluorescent paints from phosphorescent.

Game room

The Museum of Optics in St. Petersburg, whose photo halls are presented above, is worth a visit with children, who are waiting for a lot of surprises there. In particular, in the game room they will be offered:

• Play familiar melodies on the laser harp;
• Create beautiful phantom ornaments, rotating kaleidoscopes of various designs;
• See yourself from all sides in an amazing octagonal mirror room;
• Draw your profile, sitting on a shady chair;
• Play stroboscopic balalaika with a neck, etc.

Exhibitions

In addition to the permanent exposition, the ITMO Optics Museum in St. Petersburg constantly organizes interesting exhibitions.

Light Alive

In the beginning of summer in the Museum of Optics, everyone will be able to see incredible lighting effects and even learn how to create them yourself.

The audience will be able to walk through 11 rooms, where 500 square meters. M housed the real magical realm. They will be convinced that the light is alive, and will be able to penetrate into the secrets of optics.

The exhibition Light Alive is divided into several thematic zones, one of which is devoted to holography, which is one of the most amazing achievements of physics.

Magic of light. Lite

The purpose of this exhibition is to popularize physics through entertainment and game forms. Its exposition consists of 4 thematic zones. Among them, the interactive space "The Game of Light" is of special interest. There anyone can put experiments with plasma balls or "draw" any object with a laser.

It will be equally interesting to visit the "Magic Forest". It is a corridor where light strings "grow" densely. They create an optical illusion of being in a real forest habitat.

Further visitors will be waiting in the "Alice's Room". There they will have the opportunity for some time to visit the place of inhabitants of the Wonderland, where everything is completely different from what it seems.

However, the most interesting is waiting for the guests of the exhibition Magic of light. Lite in the Oculus Rift zone. There they can immerse themselves in the virtual reality world: walk with dinosaurs, make a space excursion, ride on dizzy attractions, etc.

Optics Museum in St. Petersburg: how to get there and the mode of operation

To see miracles that are only optical illusions, you can on any day of the week, except Monday.

From Tuesday to Thursday, the museum operates from 11:00 to 20:00, and on Friday and on the weekends - from 11:00 to 21:00.

The Museum of Optics in St. Petersburg (address: Birzhevaya Line, house 14) is easy to reach. To do this, you can choose a route by metro: go to the stations "Sports 2" or "Vasileostrovskaya". In addition, it can be reached by land transport ("University" or "Birzhevaya Ploshchad" stops).

Optics Museum in St. Petersburg: reviews

Those who have already visited the wonderful world of light effects, as a rule, recommend visiting it to their friends and acquaintances. Especially often you can hear advice to go to the Optics Museum with a child, since such an excursion can inspire him with a love of natural sciences and arouse interest in learning. According to the guides, even the most malicious hooligans and dvoechniki are delighted when they see the birth of lightning or look at holograms.

Now you know how to get to the Museum of Optics and what you can see there. Be sure to go there with the whole family and make sure that physics is not boring at all!