Mongolian Natural History Museum has been closed for quite some time. The half century old museum building is expected to be replaced with a new building, but the original museum has not been torn down. Museum Director N.Zorigtbaatar commented on the matter.

N.Zorigtbaatar: The project design scheme for the museum's new building is ready. The new museum building is expected to be a seven-story building,  three times bigger than the old building. The Mongolian Natural History Museum's new building project requires 24 billion MNT. It is impossible to fund such an amount of money at once. But we hope the government will fund it through next year's budget. First and foremost, we need to have the funds to tear down the old museum resolved.

– How has the museum stored its collection?

– The collection is stored, safe and sound. Besides storing and protecting the showpieces the museum is also conducting measures to add more and conducting restoration.

– The museum is currently not open to the public but making renovation, but how?

– The Mongolian Natural History Museum has 8,000 pieces in its collection, but only 10 percent of it is on display for the public. There are still rich resources waiting to be discovered and shared in our country. Soon, the new museum will be open, and all of the collection will be displayed.  But more pieces need to be enriched and restored. Our museum experts search for museum pieces, working everywhere in the countryside, hunting, collecting, seeking out rare animals, herbs and minerals, and buying items from antique dealers throughout the year.

– Are there many unparalleled pieces in the Natural History Museum?

– Countless. It is more crucial to protect ancient, unique, inimitable artifcats. In recent years, species are disappearing quickly around the world. So many fish species are disappearing due to the drying up of river and lakes. We have over 3,000 pieces sent by citizens and foreigners to the museum. Unfortunately, the old museum did not have enough space and resources to display all those items.