AZLK Museum: photos and reviews

The legendary plant AZLK in Moscow, on Volgogradsky Prospekt, opened in 1930, was closed due to bankruptcy. Its territory occupied a huge area, where various small enterprises are now located. By the half-century of the auto giant's activity, the plant's management decided to build the AZLK museum.

Opening for the anniversary

Today, not only the assembly workshops of the plant are not functioning, but the museum of AZLK has also ceased its exhibition activities . From it remained only a remarkable architectural form, the premises themselves have not yet been applied. The museum was opened in 1980 to the fiftieth anniversary of the AZLK plant. The architect of the project was Regents Yu.A. The building resembles a landing a flying saucer. This concept was popular during the erection of the object.

The concept of the exhibition

The first concept of the exhibition suggested a demonstration of the latest developments of the automobile giant, but by the time of the opening the idea had changed, it was decided to give preference to the historical retrospective of the model range of cars. Under the dome roof of the opened hall, almost all models of cars were assembled, from the first "Ford" and ending with the experimental models that just passed the stage of creating the sample.

The AZLK Museum in Moscow contained unique specimens in the exposition that never appeared in mass production. The public was surprised by the race cars that took more than one prize at domestic and international races and rallies. Formation of the exhibition took place around the central support of the room, on which the central circular lamp was mounted. Entering the exhibition hall, the visitor got into the cycle of cars of one brand, many of which remained projects, made in a single copy.

Composition of the exposition

The exhibition in the AZLK museum started with two first-borns of the plant - the Ford cars, one of which is a sedan, and the second has a phaeton-type body. Next to them was the legendary domestic car - a half-GAZ-AA. These cars were produced at a time when the plant bore the name KIM (in honor of the Communist Youth International).

Before the war, the KIM plant planned to produce a model of auto KIM-10-50; The only surviving installation specimen was exhibited at the stand of the hall next to the M-40 machine, the production of which began in 1947. Also in the museum it was possible to consider in detail export models M-408, M-412 and in demand in the Union M-402 in various modifications.

The most interesting part of the exposition was devoted to the development of the design bureau, which was designed with completely new practical and modern models of cars. The prototypes - Svyatogor, Prince Vladimir, jeeps, pick-up trucks, specialized cars for the police and ambulance promised a new round in the development of the auto concern. But the default and the lack of state support have buried all plans and disorganized the plant.

Bankruptcy of the plant

The AZLK Museum was a rare phenomenon in the machine-building industry. Not all enterprises built a separate building for the museum, under the roof of which was collected such a number of cars. While forming the exposition, all models were exhibited on the podium, but over time they became too many, and they occupied all the free space.

Plant AZLK first stopped work in 1996, at the same time the museum was closed for visits. Several years after the officially declared bankruptcy, access was possible here, but it was possible to visit the facility only by prior arrangement.

Reviews

According to the reviews of rare amateurs who got to the AZLK museum after the bankruptcy of the plant, the premises came to a dilapidated state, in case of insufficient illumination it was difficult to consider a collection of cars. But the exposition was admired by everyone who managed to get to know her.

The cars stored in the museum were the pride of the Soviet car industry and demonstrated the huge potential of the enterprise, which is noticeable in the models of the last years of activity. Many people expressed the opinion that participation of the state in solving the financial problems of the enterprise would not only prevent bankruptcy. Timely subsidies would preserve the whole industry, because talented engineers were enough. Such cars as "Yuri Dolgoruky", "Svyatogor" and their modifications, clearly demonstrated the competitiveness of the car lines both in the domestic and foreign markets.

Timelessness

After the official closure of the plant it was assumed that the AZLK museum would transfer the entire collection to the funds of the Museum of the History of Moscow, where it was planned to create an exposition based on the received cars and documentation. It should include documents about the history of the plant, achievements, developments that have not been serialized. In addition to the automotive part, it was expected that an exhibition of other products manufactured at AZLK will appear, as well as documentation: badges, toys, household appliances, mock-ups, drawings, photo archives and the archive of the factory newspaper.

What happened to the collection since 2001 is unknown. Officially, the museum was closed on August 22, 2008. Then in the environment of collectors and motorists there were rumors about the destruction of unique samples, models of cars. It was rumored that the whole collection of the retro park was sold to unknown hands or sawed for scrap metal, some managed to get to the AZLK museum. Photos from the conducted "sorties" periodically appeared on the forums of amateurs of photography.

New life of the collection

In 2009, on City Day, a collection of cars stored in the AZLK museum was solemnly donated to Moscow. Today, almost a complete collection of historical models can be seen in the Museum of retro cars. Virtually the entire fleet of cars was transferred to the capital's Department of Transport.

The first Ford cars of the KIM plant and the most popular models of Moskvich 400 and Moskvich 420, unique racing cars and models made in a single copy are exhibited at the stands. Lovers and experts in technology can also admire the jubilee models of technology, marking a certain line of achievement - 4 and 5 million cars. Today, anyone can see the collection, which was previously collected by the AZLK museum in Moscow. Address: Rogozhsky Val, building 9/2.

The latest AZLK developments are also presented at the stands. Here, models with "princely" names are demonstrated: "Ivan Kalita", "Yuri Dolgoruky", "Svyatogor" and others. There are only questions about where the documentary part of the exposition was sent, as well as the whole archive of photo and video documents, which made up a considerable part of the country's heritage and the history of the development of the domestic automobile industry.

In the Museum of retro cars of the capital on the Rogozhsky Val, the former AZLK Museum in Moscow is carefully preserved and dignified. Opening hours: from 10:00 to 21:00, closed on Monday. For the visitors there are thematic excursions, one of them is devoted to the AZLK plant and is called the "History of Moskvich".