The Mining Institute Museum is one of Saint Petersburg's great specialist collections, with minerals, fossils, mining models, and geological material gathered over more than two centuries. The museum sits inside the imposing neoclassical Mining Institute building on Vasilievsky Island.
It is most rewarding if you like natural history, engineering, or old scientific collections. Even if you do not manage to join a visit, the building itself is worth noticing while exploring the western end of the island.