Leningrad Museum of Defense: we keep history for future generations

Millionth evidence of the terrible years of the siege of the city and the fiercest battles for the liberation of Leningrad are today represented in many memorial complexes. But a special place among the memorable exhibitions was always occupied by the Museum of the Defense of Leningrad. Located in the historic part of St. Petersburg, on Solyan Lane, for all of its existence, it has hosted thousands of visitors.

Guides conduct groups on the halls, telling about all the stages of the defense and liberation of Leningrad, the courage of its inhabitants in the conditions of famine and death.

Salt town - the educational center of Leningrad

Quarter Salt town from the end of the XIX century was known to every Petersburger as a cultural and educational center. Here, in the buildings of several museums, exhibitions of achievements in technology and production were held regularly. By the twentieth century, the agricultural, artisanal, technical, military-pedagogical museums and the Russian Technical Society were already operating in the exhibition complex, where the Leningrad Defense Museum is today. Therefore, the question about the venue of the first exhibition, dedicated to the defense of Leningrad, was not even discussed.

The first exhibition in the war years

In December 1943, when a whole month remained until the blockade was completely removed, the leadership of the Leningrad Front decided on the preparation and opening of the exhibition "Heroic Defense of Leningrad". The place of the meeting was determined by the famous Salt Town. A festive opening ceremony took place at the end of April 1944.

The scale of the exhibition was so grandiose that the organizers had to use the halls of three interconnected buildings located on the embankment of Fontanka, ul. Gangutskaya and on Solyany Lane.

The work of artists and architects, who managed to clearly and faithfully reflect all the stages of the defense and liberation of Leningrad, were awarded government decorations in the wartime conditions. The success of the exhibition was simply stunning. Over the first 6 months of the exhibition, more than 200 thousand people saw the exhibition: schoolchildren, factory workers, factories, servicemen and everyone who was returning from the evacuation.

The city has found a new museum

On the day of the celebration of the second anniversary of the lifting of the blockade, in January 1946, the exhibition received the official status and name of the Leningrad Defense Museum. Photos, portraits of commanders, weapons and uniforms of soldiers, objects of military life and terrible evidence of the life of a hungry city and the sabotage work of the fascists are documentary, authentic and terribly truthful. The halls were divided into topics: battles at the borders, the story of "The Road of Life," the legendary breakthrough of the blockade, the selfless labor of factory workers, food standards for the townspeople. Many exhibits were transferred to the museum during the war by the inhabitants of Leningrad, but the exposition was replenished in peacetime. After the war, the surviving participants in the battles for Leningrad left notes in the visitors' book of the museum, where they left words of gratitude for the authenticity and memory of those tragic days.

History of the museum in the post-war years

The Museum of Defense of Leningrad underwent several re-expositions in the post-war years, and in 1953, during the revision of many military facts and political reprisals with leaders of various ranks, the museum was closed and its funds transferred to the State Museum of History of Leningrad.

The initiative to revive the museum belonged to the siege and veterans of the war, who survived the brutal time of the blockade and remembered the Leningrad Defense Museum. The idea was widely supported by the media, and in September 1989 the history of the memory of the Leningraders received a new life. Now the museum was faced with a new task - the return of squares and exhibits. By 1995, a permanent exhibition exposition was re-opened, again assembling unique military certificates and received the status of the Museum of Defense and the blockade of Leningrad.

But today's square of the museum is much inferior to the halls of the exposition of the post-war years. Of the 40,000 square meters. M. The exhibition now returned a little over a thousand. Work on the restoration of expositions and documentary archives is carried out continuously, and many exhibits, once "relocated" to other museums, return to St. Petersburg. The Museum of the Siege of Leningrad is still waiting for the solution of the problem of expanding the exhibition space.

Let's preserve the historical memory

Continuity of generations in the relay race in memory of the city's heavy fate during the war today directly depends on the visualization of the relics. Young people, born in peacetime, who did not see the horrors of bloody battles and hungry blockade rations, should not only know the lessons of history, but also see documentary evidence of wartime. In recent years, new memorial complexes were opened and updated, expositions of which reflected the theme of protection and liberation of the legendary city. The museum-diorama "Breakthrough of the Siege of Leningrad", opened in 1990 in the city of Kirov, the site of the breakthrough of the blockade ring, is a part of the huge memorial complex dedicated to the defenders of Leningrad.

A huge panoramic canvas demonstrates one of the main episodes of the city's liberation: the capture of the Shlisselburg ridge and the crossing of the Neva. The artistic realism of the fight is impressive!

Years inexorably delay that victorious May day, and the ranks of veterans are becoming less and less. "Immortal regiment" must live, and before our generation there is an undeniable task - to transfer the memory of the fiery years to their children and grandchildren.