The history of the museum began in 1845, when representatives of the Baltic-German spirit-creators of the city founded the natural research institute in Riga with a museum and a library. The most comprehensive collections of animals, plants and minerals of the Baltic region as well as extensive collections of foreign nature were collected and edited in the Museum of Natural Sciences. In 1972, the Latvian SSR Museum of Natural History took part in the founding of the former USSR department of the International Museum Council ICOM. The museum director was active in the office of this department. In 1981 the first editions of the collection "Nature and the Museum" were published. With the opening of the Nature Conservation Department and the permanent exhibition in 1976, a new direction has begun, which is developing into a multi-faceted environmental education work. The museum houses extensive collections of the nature of Latvia and the world, whose total number is 183,000. Since 1999, the museum has been the responsibility of the Ministry of the Environment. The museum has 6 exhibition departments, a collection stock, an exhibition and information department, a taxidermy laboratory, a library and a photo laboratory.