The G. V. Plekhanov Saint Petersburg State Mining Institute and Technical University is Russia's oldest higher education institute devoted to engineering. Located in Saint Petersburg, the institute is one of the oldest mining schools in Europe, and home to one of the world's finest and most exclusive collections of minerals, gem samples and mining equipment miniatures used for teaching purposes. The Institute was founded on October 21 OS/ November 1 NS 1773 by order of Empress Catherine II. It was known as the Mining School until 1804 when it became the Mining Cadet's Corps ; in 1833, it... became the Institute of the Corps of Mining Engineers . Since 1866, it has been known as the Mining Institute . During the Soviet period, it was renamed after Georgi Plekhanov, who attended the institute in the 1870s, and became known as "the G. V. Plekhanov Leningrad State Mining Institute and Technical University." In 1958-1960 a branch of the institute was opened in Vorkuta and night schools at Slantsy, Monchegorsk, and Kirovsk.
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