In 1933, Sergey Grigoryevich Kashtanov discovered the first two skeletons of pareiasaurs near Kotelnich. Since 1990, excavations of pareiasaurs and other ancient reptiles have been regularly conducted in this area, leading to significant scientific discoveries and the creation of a unique museum. Many exhibits in the museum have immense scientific value and are unmatched in the world.

The Kotelnich Paleontological Museum, founded in 1994, is located in the city of Kotelnich, Kirov region, near the well-known site of fossil vertebrates. The museum features a unique exhibition showcasing the results of years of research conducted at the state natural monument "Kotelnich Pareiasaur Site," which stretches along the right bank of the Vyatka River for 25 km from Kotelnich to the village of Vishkil.

On September 10, 2011, a new exhibition was opened at the museum, which is a branch of the Vyatka Paleontological Museum. The development of the new exhibition concept took over two years, during which several three-dimensional models were created, and the optimal option reflecting the specifics of the pareiasaur site was chosen.

In two halls with a total area of 90 sq. m., exhibits and information modules represent the diversity of fossil animals and plants from the Permian period. Here, one can see skeletal remains of pareiasaurs, herbivorous dicynodonts and suminians, predatory gorgonopsians, as well as therocephalians and other creatures that lived long before the dinosaurs. Specifically for the new exhibition, sculptor Andrey Skvortsov created a scaled reconstruction of the paleolandscape with animals and plants reduced in size by 10 times, showing what the world looked like 260 million years ago in the area of modern Kotelnich.

In the summer, museum staff organize field trips to the site, where visitors can observe the work of paleontologists during the annual excavations.