In our country, each generation has got its own “war”. All the people always rose against the enemy and, not sparing their lives, defended the independence of the state. Therefore, in every city there are monuments to fallen compatriots and museums dedicated to them. Such an urban attraction is the Museum of Military Glory in Astrakhan. It was created in 1975. Its opening took place on the eve of Victory Day, May 8, on the 30th anniversary of the great holiday.
Museum founder
The initiator and organizer of the museum’s creation was a native of the Akhtubinsky district, Alexei Mikhailovich Dobrosedov. Komsomolets since 1919, he began his military career in the fight against banditry.
In the 40s of the last century, he headed special school No. 005, which was located in Astrakhan. About 500 people were trained there, of whom sabotage and reconnaissance groups were formed to work behind enemy lines and at the front.
After the war, A. M. Dobrosedov worked in the Astrakhan region, restoring a peaceful life. Over the years, he collected a collection that included letters and personal items of front-line soldiers, their awards, documents related to the military glory of fellow countrymen. This collection became the foundation of the museum. Experienced scientists helped him create the first exposition of the Museum of Military Glory in Astrakhan.
Museum building
The museum building, where at first only the first floor was allocated to him, is also “combat”. It was built at the beginning of the 20th century especially for the board of the Astrakhan Cossack army. The author of the project was VB Varganek-Valdovsky.
Immediately after the revolution, the premises were occupied by the Commissariat of Internal Affairs, and in the 1920s the editorial office of the provincial newspaper Kommunist was here. In 1939, the building was given to the Astrakhan Rifle and Machine Gun School, and during the war years the headquarters of the Stalingrad District and the 28th Army were located here.
Today the museum occupies a fully three-story building located at ul. Akhmatovskaya 7. Phone of the Museum of Military Glory of Astrakhan: (8512) 39-26-13.
Work with the city population
Expositions of nine halls with an area of 880 square meters. m contain items telling about military events, the participants of which were Astrakhan. Here is the life of the rear workers who performed their feat at the machine tools and in the fields. As the exhibition space increased, new exhibitions were created reflecting the fighting events of different years.
Today the museum owns collections of photo documents, personal belongings of participants in the events, samples of weapons and military equipment, sculptures and paintings on this topic.
Museum employees conduct over 600 excursions per year, more than 60 thousand people visit it, 12-15 exhibitions are being created. Carrying out cultural and educational work among the population, employees organize lectures, film screenings, thematic meetings. The interest of residents and visitors to the museum and its exhibits does not pass. Moreover, each generation of Russia goes through its war, which means that new halls, new exhibitions and new stories about past events appear.
Schedule of the Museum of Military Glory in Astrakhan:
- Monday-Tuesday - from 8-30 to 16-30;
- Wednesday is a day off;
- Thursday from 8-30 to 16-00;
- Friday-Saturday - from 9-00 to 18-00;
- Sunday - from 9-00 to 16-30.
Museum expositions
The first hall tells about the creation of the Red Army, about its path from the beginning of the Civil War to the events on Lake Hassan. There is information about the participation of Astrakhan in the war in the north of the country, during the years of the Soviet-Finnish battles. Of the exhibits, the Konarmeys watch with a dedicatory inscription is interesting.
In the following five rooms of the Museum of Military Glory in Astrakhan - a description of the events dedicated to the Great Patriotic War. In the second hall - the beginning. These are years of testing, years of testing the strength and strength of both the state and people. Already on the seventh day of the war, a graduate of the Astrakhan flying club Stepan Zdorovtsev went to ram the German Yu-88. Destroying the enemy, he returned to the airfield. The triptych "Defense of Moscow" talks about the decisive battle for the capital, in which representatives of all cities of the country participated.
The third room is dedicated to events in which the city and residents were directly involved. The Germans began active operations in the southern regions of the country. In the Astrakhan District on September 6, 1942, the 28th Army was formed, which defended the region. The diorama of the work of Leningrad artists tells about her feat in protecting the Astrakhan trend. An electrified map of the military route shows the areas in which the Astrakhan participated. Khulhuta, Rostov-on-Don, Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic States, Koenigsberg, Berlin - the combat stages of the path of the 28th army.
The next room is dedicated to the residents of the city, who worked 20 hours a day for the front and victory. The industry of the region was rebuilt on military products from the first days of the war. For example, a ship repair plant became a manufacturer of knapsack flamethrowers, and a fish factory mastered the production of products that could be stored for long periods in field conditions. The city hosted people evacuated from their native places.
The fifth hall is a turning point in the war, the advance of our troops on all fronts with fierce battles. Among the defenders of the Pavlov House in Volgograd were also Astrakhan Komsomol members. For 58 days, they did not surrender the destroyed building, from which the city and the positions of the Soviet army were clearly visible. They did not give it to the enemy.
In the sixth hall of the Museum of Military Glory of Astrakhan - battles for European cities. Many names of distinguished heroes on the battlefields of the Fatherland are unknown. But the graduate of the Astrakhan flying club, Nikolai Skomorokhov, who shot down 46 enemy aircraft, was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. His call sign: “I am a buffoon” terrified the Germans.
The next exposition is about the history of the Astrakhan Cossacks. Formed in 1737, the Cossack team, by decree of Empress Anna Ioannovna, carried out escort and postal service. The Cossack army participated in the Caucasian war of the middle of the XIX century, the Trans-Caspian campaign. Here is a story about revolutionary events, about the Civil War, and about the place of the Cossacks in them. In World War II they did not stand aside, but took an active part in the destruction of the enemy.
Astrakhan’s protection of the country's interests in Afghanistan, Chechnya and other “hot spots” is described in the last two rooms of the Museum of Military Glory in Astrakhan.
