Million evidence of the terrible years of the besieged city and the fiercest battles for the liberation of Leningrad are today presented in many memorial complexes. But a special place among the memorable expositions has always been occupied by the Leningrad Defense Museum. Located in the historical part of St. Petersburg, on Solyany Lane, it has received thousands of visitors throughout its existence.
Guides lead groups through the halls, telling about all stages of the defense and liberation of Leningrad, about the courage of its inhabitants in conditions of hunger and death.
S alt town - the educational center of Leningrad
The S alt Town quarter has been known to every Petersburger since the end of the 19th century as a cultural and educational center. Here, in the buildings of several museums, exhibitions of achievements in technology and production were regularly held. By the 20th century, the exhibition complex, where the Leningrad Defense Museum is located today, already operated agricultural, handicraft, technical, military-pedagogical museums and the Russian Technical Museum.society. Therefore, the question of the venue for the first exhibition dedicated to the defense of Leningrad was not even discussed.
First exhibition during the war years
In December 1943, when there was a whole month left before the complete lifting of the blockade, the leadership of the Leningrad Front decided to prepare and open the exhibition "Heroic Defense of Leningrad". The well-known S alt Town was chosen as the venue. The festive opening ceremony of the exposition 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 Fontanka embankment, st. Gangutskaya and along S alt Lane.
The work of artists and architects, who managed to vividly and reliably reflect all stages of the defense and liberation of Leningrad in wartime conditions, were awarded government awards. The success of the exposition was simply stunning. In the first 6 months alone, the exhibition was seen by more than 200,000 people: schoolchildren, workers of factories and factories, military personnel and everyone who was returning from evacuation.
The city has 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 the name of the Leningrad Defense Museum. Photos, portraits of military leaders, weapons and uniforms of soldiers, military household items and terrible evidence of the life of a hungry city and the sabotage work of the Nazis are documented, reliable and terrifyingly truthful. Hallswere divided by subject: battles at the frontiers, the history of the "Road of Life", the legendary breakthrough of the blockade, the selfless work of factory workers, food norms for the townspeople. Many exhibits were transferred to the museum by residents of Leningrad during the war, but the exposition was replenished in peacetime as well. Already after the war, the surviving participants in the battles for Leningrad left notes in the museum's visitor's book, 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 Leningrad Defense Museum underwent several re-expositions in the post-war years, and in 1953, during the revision of many military facts and political reprisals against leaders of various ranks, the museum was closed, and its funds were transferred to the State Museum of the History of Leningrad.
The initiative to revive the museum belonged to the siege survivors and war veterans who survived the cruel time of the siege and remembered the Leningrad Defense Museum. The idea was widely supported by the media, and in September 1989 the history of the memory of Leningraders received a new life. Now the museum was faced with a new task - the return of areas and exhibits. By 1995, the permanent exhibition was reopened, again collecting unique military evidence and receiving the status of the Museum of Defense and Siege of Leningrad.
But today's area of the museum is much inferior to the exhibition halls of the post-war years. Out of 40,000 sq. m of the exhibition is now returned a little more than a thousand. Work on the restoration of expositions andThe documentary archive is maintained continuously, and many exhibits, once "relocated" to other museums, are returning to St. Petersburg. The Museum of the Siege of Leningrad is still waiting for a solution to the problem of expanding exhibition space.
Let's Preserve Historical Memory
The continuity of generations in the relay race of memory of the hard fate of the city during the war years today directly depends on the visualization of relics. Young people who were born in peacetime, who did not see the horrors of bloody battles and starvation rations, should not only know the lessons of history, but also see documentary evidence of wartime. In recent years, new memorial complexes have been opened and already existing memorial complexes have been renovated, the expositions of which reflect the theme of protecting and liberating the legendary city. Museum-diorama "Breakthrough of the blockade of Leningrad", opened in 1990 in the city of Kirov, the site of the breakthrough of the blockade ring, is part of a huge memorial complex dedicated to the defenders of Leningrad.
A huge panoramic canvas demonstrates one of the main episodes of the liberation of the city - the capture of the Shlisselburg ledge and the crossing of the Neva. The artistic realism of the battle is impressive!
Years are inexorably moving away that victorious May day, and the ranks of veterans are getting smaller. The "Immortal Regiment" must live, and our generation faces an indisputable task - to pass on the memory of the fiery years to their children and grandchildren.
