Military Historic Museum of the Navy (Sevastopol)

 

Location: Sevastopol

 

Description of the Military Historic Museum of the Navy

Military Historic Museum of the Navy was opened on September 14th, 1869 in Sevastopol in a private residence of General- Engineer E.I. Totleben. He was one of the few survivors of the first defence of Sevastopol in the course of the Crimean War. Museum was established under supervision of a special committee. Most of the members of the original administration of the Military Historic Museum were veterans of the Crimean War. The head of this committee was Lieutenant General P.K. Men'koy who was the chief editor of the military newspaper "Russian Invalid". He managed to gather twelve thousand rubles (huge sum by those days) in a fairly short period of time. In addition to monetary donations newly established Museum of the Navy accepted trophies, physical objects from veterans of the Crimean War and their families. By 1913 Museum exposition contained over 2000 items on its display. People donated these mementos without desire for any monetary gain. After Russian Revolution of 1917 and subsequent Russian Civil War Military Historic Museum was expanded. New rooms in the museum of the Navy included items dedicated to Russian Revolution of 1905 and 1917. Upon beginning of World War II Military Historic Museum expanded even further. Many soldiers and sailors travelled from the frontlines to deliver documents of their fallen comrades, their helmets and other items with hopes that Museum will preserve personal mementos of people who died for their country. As German and their Romanian allies moved closer to Sevastopol, collection of the Museum had to move. First it moved to Baku (today it is capital of independent Azerbaijan) and later to Ulyanovsk.

 

After Sevastopol was liberated from Nazi forces collection of Military Historic Museum of the Navy returned back to their home town. The building of the Museum was badly damaged during the years of occupation so exposition was transferred to the art gallery located on the Nakhimov street for temporary storage. Military Historic Museum of the Navy was re- opened on August 15th, 1948 after extensive reconstruction. Today museum is open to the public. It contains a unique collection of ancient and modern weapons, models of historic ships, paintings of battles and old photographs. In the courtyard of Military Historic Museum military equipment is presented to the public.

 

History

The Museum of the Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol dates back to the Museum of the Sevastopol Defense of 1854–1855. The museum was founded on the initiative of the participants in the defense of Sevastopol and under the patronage of Emperor Alexander II. The museum was opened on September 14 (old style) 1869 on the street. Ekaterininskaya in 5 rooms in the house of one of the leaders of the first defense of Sevastopol, General E. I. Totleben. The fundraising committee for the opening of the museum was headed by the editor of the military newspaper "Russian Invalid", Lieutenant General P. K. Menkov.

On December 1, 1869, the Russian Emperor Alexander II issued a decree on the transfer "for everlasting times" to the Sevastopol Museum of the estate in the village of Emir, Taurida province, Berdyansk district, with an area of 1936 acres. This gave the museum further financial support. Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich became the patron of the museum and the charitable institutions under its control. In 1874, a shelter for the disabled, a school for 40 students (later transformed into a vocational school), the Ksenya parochial school for 300 students, and a straw weaving school for girls were built at the museum in 1874.

By the 1890s, it became necessary to move the museum to a new, separate building. The Maritime Department, at the direction of Emperor Alexander III, allocated a plot of land of 126 sq.m along Ekaterininskaya Street (now Lenin Street). On June 28, 1892, the construction of a new building for the museum began and was completed on October 5, 1895, according to the project of Academician A. M. Kochetov. 150 thousand rubles were spent, of which 100 thousand were spent by the maritime and military departments, and the latter also allocated a plot for its construction. The building was made in a strict classical style, with iron and bronze decorations. The “Sevastopol sign” was depicted on the main facade: a cross and the number 349, indicating the number of days of defense. The side facades were decorated with cast-iron fittings depicting parts of sailing ships, cannons covered with bronze banners. The facade and interior decorations were designed by the Odessa sculptor B. V. Eduards. In the rank of captain of the 2nd rank, the first caretaker (director) of the Military Historical Museum of the Defense of Sevastopol was N.I. Kostomarov, St. George Knight, during the years of defense, the commander of battery No. 38 (Kostomarov battery).

After the fall of the monarchy and the Civil War, the museum was reorganized, the expositions were replenished with exhibits reflecting the events in the Black Sea Fleet in 1905–1917. In 1926, the museum was divided into two departments: the 1st floor became the Museum of the Revolution, and the 2nd floor became the Museum of the Crimean War. In 1932, a new reorganization was carried out - 2 departments turned into 2 independent museums: the Museum of the Revolution and the Museum of the Crimean War. And in 1940, both museums were again merged into one - the Military History Museum of the Black Sea Fleet with subordination to the Leningrad Central Naval Museum under the leadership of the Political Directorate of the Black Sea Fleet of the USSR.

During the second defense of Sevastopol during the Great Patriotic War, the museum continued to work and be replenished with exhibits brought by the defenders of the city. Some of the most valuable exhibits were evacuated to Baku, then to Ulyanovsk. The left part of the exposition, due to the fact that the museum building was partially destroyed, was transferred to the building of the art gallery. After the liberation of Sevastopol from the Nazis, the building was restored with the active participation of the candidate of architecture V.P. Petropavlovsky. The evacuated exhibits were returned to Sevastopol and on August 15, 1948, on the Day of the Navy, after repairs, the Museum of the Black Sea Fleet was solemnly reopened to visitors. The post-war exposition of the museum presented the heroic history of the Black Sea Fleet from 1783 to 1945. Since December 31, 2020, the Museum of the Black Sea Fleet has been a branch of the Central Naval Museum named after Emperor Peter the Great.

About 80 thousand people visit the museum every year. The head of the museum is Captain 3rd Rank Sergey Petrovich Solinsky.

 

Collection

The Russian public collected significant funds and a large amount of materials, among which were the personal belongings of the leaders of the defense of the city V. A. Kornilov and P. S. Nakhimov, paintings by famous Russian artists I. K. Aivazovsky, F. A. Rubo. Later, a painting by I. K. Aivazovsky was donated to the museum from the collection of Emperor Alexander II, the Grand Dukes handed over the saber of the commander of the Turkish squadron Osman Pasha, the telescope of P. S. Nakhimov, the widow of M. P. Lazarev donated his awards to the museum . According to the catalog of 1913, the museum already had over two thousand exhibits, in the mid-2000s - over 30 thousand exhibits.