The RSU Museum turns 18!

The Rīga Stradiņš University Museum was founded on 4 September 2001. In 2013 the premises on 26A Anniņmuižas Bulvāris which house the collections were opened, and a permanent exhibition was created at 16 Dzirciema Iela. This exhibition’s concept was partially designed by artist Anna Heinrihsone and historian Valters Ščerbinskis. Up until then, the museum existed in suitcases and boxes.

The Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU) Museum was accredited in 2015, and the website dedicated to the history of RSU (vesture.rsu.lv) was created in 2016. Another significant event was when the anatomy collection was transferred from Pauls Stradiņš Museum for History of Medicine to the RSU Museum in 2017.

To date, 2574 items have been included in the collection. More than 800 of them are registered in the Joint Catalogue of the National Holdings of Museums www.nmkk.lv.

The museum’s historical artefacts are divided into five collections:

• The history of the institution's development;
• Remarkable persons important to the history of RSU;
• The history of various academic units;
• The history of studies, research and academic activities;
• The history of RSU traditions and extracurricular organisations.

Alongside these collections the museum is also creating a collection of scientific research materials that contains documents, books, and other sources of information that can help us understand the history of RSU.

The last item added to the collection is a black-and-white photograph given to the museum by Professor Andrejs Skaģers. It depicts a lively discussion between three colleagues in the Hippocrates Lecture Theatre of Rīga Medical Institute (RMI) in the 1980s. From the left: RMI Professor Andrejs Skaģers, long-time employee of the Republican Unified Dental Clinic Vladimirs Vigdorčiks, and Professor of Prosthetics Jakovs Zbaržs from St. Petersburg.

Museums cooperate with one another by borrowing and lending or, in the language of museums, depositing various items for exhibitions. The RSU Museum has some unique items that other museums have borrowed several times. Some examples – the wax mask or the model of the head of Professor Pauls Stradiņš, and the spear of Olympic champion Inese Jaunzeme, who is a graduate of the Rīga Medical Institute (now - RSU), that is currently on display at the Latvian Olympics Hall of Honour exhibition at the Latvian Sports Museum - GOLD. SILVER. BRONZE.