Museum of History of OAO GAZ, Nizhny Novgorod: mode of operation, testimonials of visitors

The rapid industrialization of the Soviet Union in the early thirties gave impetus to the creation of an enterprise that became a symbol of its era. This is the famous GAZ - an automobile plant on the banks of the Volga. The roads of our country can not be imagined without machines coming off its conveyor. The GAZ history museum, created in the premises of the factory training center, is dedicated to the work of the giant of the domestic automotive industry. What do his exhibits tell?

Museum of History and Labor Glory GAS

Occupying two floors of the factory training center, the museum enables its guests to see a rich collection of exhibits representing the entire long-term path of the enterprise. They number more than thirty-five thousand. On the top floor, from which it is recommended to begin the excursion, documents are placed that give an idea of the stages of the plant development from the early thirties to this time.

The birth of the future giant plant

Visitors to this exhibition will learn about how in 1929 the government of the country concluded an agreement with the Americans - the leaders of the car industry of those years, according to which the overseas partners took upon themselves the responsibility to render all possible assistance in setting up mass production of cars of different classes in our country.

The place of construction was defined Nizhny Novgorod, in those years bearing the name of AM Gorky. The work, which was then carried out at a shock pace, took a record short time, and in 1932 the country got the first truck - a one-and-a-half NAZ-AA, modeled after the American prototype Ford-AA.

The pre-war period in the life of the enterprise

In the same period the Gorky Automobile Plant started the production of the first-born passenger cars - the GAZ-A model. It was quite comfortable for those times, "phaeton" with an open five-seater body. Despite the fact that he also had his American twin, it should be noted that from the very beginning the designers of the plant began work on the modernization of American models and, making changes to the provided drawings, created their own designs on their basis.

Up to the beginning of the war, the Gorky plant developed its capacities and mastered new product samples. In 1935, he became the first automobile company in the USSR to produce a hundred-thousandth car, and a year before the war, a novelty of the world automobile industry-a passenger SUV GAZ-61-73-distinguished by increased comfort emerged from its gate. In the prewar years, the design bureau of the enterprise developed a number of models of transport equipment for the needs of the army.

The Museum of History of OAO GAZ presents exhibits devoted to the military period of the plant's work to its guests. During these years, its products were mainly oriented to the needs of the front, and, along with army-style vehicles, armored vehicles were dropped from the conveyors of the enterprise.

In October and December 1941, the first samples of light tanks T-60 and T-70 were added, supplemented by several modifications, and later - T-80. For four war years the Gorky Automobile Plant gave the army more than twelve thousand tanks, nine thousand self-propelled units, as well as a huge number of mortars and shells for the famous Katyusha installations.

Legends of cars after the war

Further the museum of history of Open Society GAS acquaints the visitors with how in the first post-war years model range of production of former years completely changed. In place of morally obsolete samples came a new technique. In 1946, the enterprise mastered the production of the famous "Victory M-20" and a GAZ-51 truck with a payload of two and a half tons. With the beginning of their production, a new era of Soviet automotive industry was opened.

The model "Volga GAZ-21" and all its subsequent modifications became truly epochal, many of which until nowadays are often found on Russian roads, as well as the GAZ-63 truck. There is no need to enumerate everything that the plant on the banks of the Volga enriched the country's car park. Its products are known to everyone, and the history museum of OAO GAZ gives its guests the opportunity to see again, along with cars that are familiar from childhood, those that have been heard or read in books.

If you view the reviews of visitors, then it can be seen that in this part of the museum the most interesting are the original documents obtained from various archives of the country. They are witnesses of the past of the plant, they tell about his labor glory. In addition, judging by the reviews, the visitors of the museum are attracted by samples of military uniforms, also exhibited at the exhibition.

Of particular interest is the fragment of the German bomb that fell on the territory of the plant and not completely burst. In general, the entries left in the visitors' book and on the museum's website, indicate that this exhibition leaves no one indifferent.

Cars are witnesses of the past

Having finished acquaintance with the exposition of the upper floor of the museum, visitors go down, where the museum of history of OAO GAZ (Nizhny Novgorod) has placed its full collection of authentic cars assembled in the workshops of the enterprise for the entire period of its existence. Here are twenty-nine cars, found and restored by museum workers.

All of them are in working order and are ready even now to leave the gates of the enterprise. Among them there are samples, which are very rare in our day and are rightfully the pride of the museum. The lower hall is a living illustration of what the exposition of the upper floor told us about. Visiting him will bring great pleasure to adults and children. Photos of individual exhibits of this exhibition are given on our website.

Museum on the Volga waiting for its guests

Those who are interested in the history of the Soviet and Russian automotive industry and who are going to visit Nizhny Novgorod, undoubtedly, it will be useful to visit the history museum of OAO GAZ. The operating mode is the following: from Monday to Thursday it is open from 9.00 to 18.00, and on Fridays closes an hour earlier. In former times he had a five-day work schedule, which created a great inconvenience for visitors. Now it can be viewed on Saturdays, from 9.00 to 16.00.