Bol’shaya Morskaya, St. Petersburg, 190000 Russia, e-mail m.vishnyakova@vir.nw.ru, e.semenova@vir.nw.ru, t.alexandrova@vir.nw.ru, s.bulyntsev@vir.nw.ru, i.yankov@vir.nw.ru, t.buravtseva@vir.nw.ru, g.egorova@vir.nw.ru, i.seferova@vir.nw.ru, m.burlyaeva@vir.nw.ru doi: 10.15389/agrobiology.2016.1.31eng A b s t r a c t The introductions from the Mediterranean region to VIR collection of grain legumes genetic resources amounts 12 % of its content. <...> One-fifth of this sample accessions (1272) had been collected by N.I. Vavilov in 1926-1927, in his expedition around this richest floristic region. <...> Many other accessions are obtained by the requests or as a result of exchange with breeding institutions of the countries situated around Mediterranean Sea and genebanks worldwide. <...> The Mediterranean, a «hot spot» of the world’s biodiversity, is one of the centers of origin of cultivated plants, including some economically important species of grain legumes. <...> This is a region with many endemic species, both cultivated and wild relatives of legumes. <...> In the countries of Mediterranean many species of legumes, including dry beans, cowpeas, vetch, white, yellow and blue lupines, chickpea, vetchling, lentil and grass pea had been domesticated. <...> Common bean and soybean had been introduced and became an integral part of agricultural production in the region. <...> All this makes the germplasm of the region very valuable. <...> The genotypes cultivated in the countries of western and northern Mediterranean for centuries been subjected to careful breeding, have been planted on fertile soils, in a mild climate and most of them are characterized by strong habit, large fruits and seeds. <...> In the arid conditions of the southern and eastern parts of the Mediterranean basin early-maturated plants grow adapted to drought and heat (N.I. Vavilov, 1962). <...> The differentiation of the breeding status of the material is clear depending on the significance of the genus (species) or the crop in agricultural production in Mediterranean region. <...> The collections of peas, soybeans, common beans from this gene pool are represented mostly by commercial varieties. <...> The collections of lupine, cowpea, chickpea, beans, chicklings and vetch are comprised mostly of local varieties. <...> Some genera ( ) are represented by numerous species of wild relatives. <...> For all crops the examples of elite germplasm (sources of alleles of genes determining the valuable traits) for breeding identified in the collection of VIR as a result of its assessment are given. <...> Keywords: Mediterranean, plant genetic resources, grain <...>