The blockade of Leningrad is truly considered one of the worst events in world history. In St. Petersburg, it is almost impossible to find a family that would not have been affected by this tragedy, which claimed the lives of more than one and a half million people.
The blockade of Leningrad not only became a huge grief, but also showed an example of the true courage of people. Residents of the city showed an incredible fortitude, fulfilling their duty to the end, despite hunger, cold and conditions unsuitable for existence.
In the besieged city, all city museums continued to operate. In addition, thanks to the work of local residents, new cultural institutions were opened, one of which was the exhibition on the blockade of the city, opened in 1944.
For residents of the city on the Neva, the museum has become a sign that the city is not going to surrender to the enemy and continues to live. The exhibition helped people believe in victory and live to see a happy day for the liberation of the city.
Address
The museum has a convenient location and is located in the very center of the city. Today, the building of the State Moral Museum of Defense and the Siege of Leningrad is located at ul. Solyaniy Lane, 9.
You can get to the museum by metro to the Chernyshevskaya or Nevsky Prospekt stations, and you will need to walk about 1 km from the metro to the museum.
The first years of the museum
The main museum building is located in a house built in 1900-1903. In the war years, the museum occupied a much larger area than was allocated for the exhibition today. In addition to the main building of the Museum of Defense and the blockade of Leningrad, the exposition occupied two more neighboring rooms.
The decision that it was necessary to create an exhibition dedicated to the life of the besieged city was made in December 1943. A month later, active work began on the collection of exhibits for the museum. The process of creating the exhibition was led by the artist Nikolai Suetin, who lived in Leningrad during the entire blockade.
The collection and search for items for presentation at the museum was attended by residents of Leningrad, who donated their personal belongings for the exhibition. Most of the exhibition consists of items that were found during the analysis of rubble in the city.
The exhibition was opened at the end of April 1944. In the first six months of work, more than 500 thousand people visited it. The museum exposition totaled more than 10 thousand exhibits, half of which were samples of military vehicles and weapons.
Of particular importance was the diary of Tanya Savicheva, which later became one of the symbols of the blockade. In the diary, a little girl describes the terrible events of the blockade, talks about her family and what they have to endure.
In October 1945, a decree was issued on the need to reconstruct the exhibition and transform it into a museum of the defense of Leningrad. The second anniversary of the lifting of the blockade was marked by the opening of the renovated museum, it happened at the end of January 1946. At that time, 37654 exhibits were stored in the museum.
From the moment the museum was opened until mid-1948, it was visited by 1 million 350 thousand people. At this time, an active replenishment of the museum's collection was carried out, various conferences were held within its walls.
Temporary museum shutdown
1949 was a difficult year for the State Memorial Museum of Defense and the Siege of Leningrad. At this time, the Soviet authorities were against the work of the museum, since, in their opinion, the exposition downplayed the role of Stalin in the war. In addition, the Soviet authorities believed that the museum was created in order to highlight a special and main role in the Leningrad war, and this contradicted official data on military events. As a result of the authorities' disgrace, the museum management was forced to decide on its closure (1952). The exhibition was liquidated, most of the valuable exhibits were permanently destroyed, only a small part of the museum’s wealth was saved by transferring to other museums. Over the next 37 years, there was no separate museum in the hero city that was dedicated to such terrible events.
New Museum (1989)
During perestroika, the restoration of the State Memorial Museum of Defense and the Siege of Leningrad began. For its placement, the authorities provided a small part of the former museum premises. The grand opening took place in September 1989.
The permanent exhibition was opened in 1995. A separate building was reserved for temporary exhibitions. So, in 1996, the hall worked, which was completely dedicated to Lake Ladoga.
More than once the new museum of defense and blockade of Leningrad tried to regain its former square and again become the owner of the former premises. Unfortunately, these attempts were unsuccessful, and the museum management had to be content with the allocated areas for the development of the museum.
Museum exposition
The main part of the exhibition of the State Memorial Museum of Defense and Siege of Leningrad was opened in 1995 and reflected two sides of terrible events - the defense of the city and its blockade. The exhibition occupied an area of 650 square meters. m. Stands in which objects relating to life in the besieged city were exhibited were placed in the center of the hall, and things dedicated to the front and military operations were placed around its perimeter.
Among the exhibits of the State Memorial Museum of Defense and the Siege of Leningrad, you can see a thin piece of bread that was given to people for a day, flat cakes fried in industrial oil, as well as a large number of photographs of those times.
In May 2018, the museum was closed for reconstruction, according to official figures, it will last until the summer of next year.