The exposition has one of the copies of the map of the Russian Empire published by the Economic Cartographic Institution of Saint Petersburg in 1908.

The Russian Empire continued to be one of the largest countries of the world for a long time. The map contains all territories that were included into Russia in the 15th -19th centuries. Attached territories are marked with different colors and dates of joining to Russia. Red lines indicate itineraries of foreign campaigns of Russian armies.

‘The most important events in the history of Russia’ are listed in the left low corner. They include the ruling of Russian princes and tsars of the Rurik dynasty, including Ivan IV the Terrible, the Tatar-Mongol Yoke, the Time of Troubles, the ruling of the Romanov dynasty and large-scale wars, for example, the Patriotic War of 1812 and many others.

The last event reflected on this map is the transfer of South Sakhalin to Japan in 1905.

The island was an area of interest to Russia for a long time, however it was mainly under Chinese influence to the mid of 19th century. Nevertheless, according to international treaties, Sakhalin did not belong to any country and the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan used this situation. In 1855, they signed the Treaty of Shimoda according to which the island became their joint ownership without a definite territorial demarcation. However, the interests of two states constantly interfered with each other, they failed to come to a mutually convenient agreement and then in accordance with the Treaty of Saint Petersburg of 1875 Japan agreed to give up its claims on Sakhalin in exchange for undisputed ownership of the Kuril Islands.

Sakhalin returned to the territory of Russia only when the USSR defeated Japan in the World War II.