The Paleontological City Branch of the Atyrau Regional Museum of History and Local Lore was established on February 12, 2003, by order of the Atyrau Regional Akimat No. 44. Today, the museum’s total collection amounts to 8,544 items.
The Paleontological Museum is the only museum in Kazakhstan dedicated to studying the geological layers of the earth and the fauna of the Mesozoic era. The uniqueness and value of its collection attract the interest of many museums worldwide. All of the exhibits were found within the Atyrau Region — in the Cretaceous mountains of Akkeregeshyn and Aktolagai. Akkeregeshyn is located 60–70 km from the city of Kulsary, while Aktolagai lies on the border of the Aktobe and Atyrau regions.
The museum’s exhibition hall acquaints visitors with the animal world that existed in our land millions of years ago. On display are fossilized mollusks, eight-rayed corals, sea urchins, sponges, jellyfish, worms, various species of mollusks, and many other representatives of marine fauna that lived tens of millions of years ago. The exhibition also features bones and teeth of ancient sharks, ichthyosaurs, and dinosaurs, as well as fossilized plants, trees, and animal remains.
The main mission of the museum is to introduce visitors to the origins of animals that lived millions of years ago, their fossilized remains, the characteristics of the earliest organisms, their species, stages of reproduction, and causes of extinction. The museum conducts educational programs for schoolchildren and also organizes traveling exhibitions.
