The Natural History Museum of Latvia is a storehouse containing geological, entomological, palaeontological, zoological, botanical and anthropological objects. The collection consists of a total of 188 211 specimens (01.01.2005). 

  The Riga Naturalist Society (1845-1939) left a valuable legacy in the form of a sizeable collection of objects from Latvia and around the world:

  Of note are the very diverse naturalist collections from School Museums and the geology and paleontology collections from the Geology Institute.

  The Botany Collection consists of more than 31,000 units. 
  The systematic plant herbarium (  4) of Latvia is augmented yearly, gradually forming a complete collection. The herbarium of Latvia’s mushrooms has been enlarged and improved every year since 1988 ( 5, 6). The newly formed collection of the mosses of Latvia is noteworthy (  7). Work has started on the charophyta herbarium. These botanical collections are not meant for exposition but rather for scientific study. 

 The Geology Collection contains a wide sampling of the sedimentary rock of Latvia. The mineral and rock collections from the Caucasus and the Kola Peninsula are unique; members of the Geology Club helped gather the specimens. The number of units in the Baltic amber (  8, amber in the text) and agate collections increases regularly. The most valuable recent bequest has been the luminescent minerals collection.

  The Palaeontology Collection consists of ancient animal and plant fossils from Latvia and surrounding territories ( 10). Included are 2 billion-year-old algae fossils as well as relatively recent, 10,000 year-old woolly mammoth and other Quaternary period animal bones.
 The diverse Devonian period fish fossil collection is very valuable ( 11, 12). Of special significance is the collection of ancient four-legged animal bones found in Kurzeme ( 13) as well as the collection of armored fish ( 14) and lobe-fin fish skeletons, found in the early 1970s at the clay quarry in Lode. 
  Devonian period fish remains have been gathered near Lake Onega in Russia the last three years (15, 16) and the excavation continues to be highly productive.

  The Entomology Collection is highly species diverse consisting of 63,000 units. The largest – Latvian butterfly collection – consists of 2000 species (17). The various beetle collections are unique and colorful: wood gnawers (18), soldier beetles, ground beetles (19, Carabidae from the Crimea), and soldier beetles. A meaningful place has been allocated the ant (20), bark lice and flower fly (21) collections. 

  The Zoology Collection with its 27,000 units is very interesting and diverse. Almost all of the bird species of Latvia are included in the bird collection. The collection is augmented regularly (22,23,24). Many of the foreign birds and mammals have come to the museum from the Riga Zoo (25). The collection of birds of the Far East resulted from collaboration with the Magadana Regional Museum (26).
  The collection of seashells from Latvia and elsewhere has noticeably improved in recent years. The specimens have been gathered, purchased and received as gifts (27). 
  In 2000 the museum received a turtle collection (28) as a donation.

      Since Latvia is a member nation of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the museum receives confiscated natural objects, items include corals, shells, crocodiles, crocodile skin and snake skin articles (29).

  Since the museum collection contains many species that are nearly or already extinct in Latvia and the world, its value is increasing and long term maintenance is becoming increasingly important. 
  Work on developing an electronic data base of the museum collection is underway. Although the number of entries is minimal at this point, one can receive an insight into the collection of the Natural History Museum of Latvia by visiting the website at http://www.imuzejs.lv  .