In the history of wars of any state there are battles that became turning points. For Russia in the war of 1812, the Battle of Borodino took place on September 7th.
It took place on a field of the same name one hundred and ten kilometers from Moscow west of Mozhaysk.
Borodin had the Russian Napoleonic army, conquering all of Europe and now standing at the approaches to Moscow, was hit so hard that the French could no longer recover. This heroic battle was the beginning of the defeat of the enemy invading forces.
History of creation
The events of 1812 left their mark not only in Russian history, but also in the annals of all of Europe. And therefore it is not surprising that the place where one of the decisive events of that war took place was turned into a monument.
The fact that this field is obliged to maintain its glory for centuries, the Russians realized ten years after the victory over Napoleon. Historians describe the chronology of how the Borodino field was turned into a museum reserve.
Kutuzov turned to Ober-Hofmeisterin Naryshkina with the requirement that the Russian fortifications be preserved. He wrote that only these years can bury these redoubts. At the same time, on the site where General Tuchkov heroically died, the construction of the Church of the Savior Not Made by Hands began, because more than fifty thousand soldiers died in the battle.
Opening
The Borodino Field Museum-Reserve has its history since August 1839. On this day, with the participation of Emperor Nicholas I and the participants of the battle before the formation of the fifty-thousandth army on Battery Raevsky - the main reference point of the Russian army during the battle - a monument created by architect A. Adamini was consecrated at the Kurgan height. A few months earlier, the ashes of General P.I. Bagration - one of the heroes of Borodin.
A gatehouse was built near the monument by decree of the emperor, intended for war veterans who were supposed to keep a book of entries coming to see the battle plan and trophies left after it. In addition, they had to look after Bagration’s grave and monument. So the Borodino Field Museum-Reserve was opened.
Description
This historical monument is considered one of the oldest among those based on the battlefield. In 1961, it was renamed the State Borodino Military-Historical Museum-Reserve and included in the Code of the Most Valuable Objects in the List of Cultural Heritage of the Russian Federation.
Its protected area is six hundred and fifty square kilometers. Borodino Military History Museum itself is a territory of one hundred and ten square meters. m. The main object for display is, in fact, the field itself, on which in August for six days the Russian troops fought for Moscow under the leadership of Kutuzov.
The museum in its modern form was opened in 1902. It was a very peculiar and unexpected decision. The head of the Borodino railway station decided to create the Museum of 1812 by placing it in one of the station rooms. Ten years later, the anniversary was celebrated - one hundred years from the moment of the battle. Celebrations were held on a large scale. Monuments were even erected in memory of the particularly distinguished soldiers and officers of the tsarist army.
Thirty-five monuments were also built and the Shevardinsky redoubt was restored . It was this fortification that was the first to take the blow. One of the flushes was reconstructed.
How to get there
You can arrive at the Borodino Field (museum reserve) by car along the Moscow-Minsk highway. From Mozhaysk you need to go west to the village of the same name, then turn left to the main monument.
Electric trains depart from Belorussky Train Station. And by bus, you can arrive at the Borodino Field (museum) from the Victory Park metro station by bus number 457.
Around the central exposition and next to the Spaso-Borodinsky Monastery, comfortable parking lots are provided, designed not only for cars, but also for sightseeing shuttles.
Infrastructure
The State Borodino Military-Historical Museum-Reserve opened its branches in the city of Mozhaisk. This is a local historical and local history center and the House of Artist S. Gerasimov.
Today, through the efforts of the administration, meetings are formed and developed, and funds are preserved. But the most important thing is that normal conditions are created for relics, including those that are exposed in the open.
Activities
One of the important tasks that the Borodino Field (museum) has set itself today is the acquisition, accounting and cataloging of collections. The priority area of activity of this historical monument is exposition and exhibition. The restoration of all the exhibits, including movable ones, is also important. These activities must be carried out continuously.
The Borodino Field Museum also carries out very significant work on the implementation of projects based on the reconstruction of previously lost open exhibits, their reconstruction, restoration, conservation. Today, museumification of historical and cultural sites in the landscape, as well as individual monuments and objects that have not yet been included in the Borodino Field Museum-Reserve, is being actively conducted.
sights
Familiarity with this historical and cultural site must begin directly from the railway station of the same name . Here, to the 190th anniversary of the battle, an exposition was opened telling about the events and heroes of that battle. It also includes some materials devoted to the October events of 1941 in this territory.
However, the main exhibition of the museum is located in the middle of the Borodino field. It was opened in the pavilion near the Raevsky battery. Called "Borodino - the battle of the giants", the exhibition stores only genuine trophies and artifacts associated with the famous battle. Here, for example, you can see the weapons and uniforms of soldiers of the Russian and French armies, as well as banners and standards, their documents and awards, maps.
The Borodino Field (museum reserve) exhibits a lot of personal belongings of the participants in the battle. The paintings created by veterans and contemporaries of the war of 1812 are also exhibited here.
Spaso-Borodinsky monastery
After visiting the central exposition, it’s worth going to the place where a small church once stood. Today in its place the Spaso-Borodinsky Monastery was built, on the territory of which several more exhibitions are located. For example, an exposition telling about what “Borodino Field” (a museum-reserve) was like during the Great Patriotic War, about the work of a field hospital, which was broken down in the complex from July to September 1941, etc.
The next exhibition - “Military Art Toy” - slightly dilutes the sad pictures of the previous one. She is especially loved by young visitors. Figures of soldiers of various historical eras, as well as a unique layout that demonstrates one of the episodes of the battle, make the kids stand idle in front of the stands for hours.
In the meantime, the guys admire the soldiers, adults can visit the refectory of the Spaso-Borodinsky monastery and get acquainted with the rich collection of the Military Gallery. Portraits of generals and officers, corporals and ordinary participants of Borodin ... Here is a whole art gallery with about seventy art exhibits.
The Borodino Field (museum reserve) would not have been such without mentioning the name of the Russian classic Leo Tolstoy and, of course, the novel War and Peace. The writer was in person in 1867. He stayed at a hotel in the church to collect materials for his future book.
Today, an exhibition is organized within the walls of the former inn, telling about the heroes of the novel "War and Peace" and their participation in the battle of Borodino, as well as about the places where Andrei Bolkonsky fought.
In a small house and at the same time the Mother Superior Museum, which was called Margarita Mikhailovna (the widow of General Tuchkov) in the world, it is worth looking at the recreated interior of the home of mother Mary, the founder of the Spaso-Borodinsky monastery.
And finally, tourists are invited to go on excursions to the military-historical settlement “Doronino” - a unique village of the nineteenth century, in which the peasant and military life of that era was recreated. Here you can not only see and find out where and how officers and soldiers lived during the war of 1812, but also taste the real soldier's marching porridge.