If you know what exactly was part of the executioner's direct duties and have an idea of how the latter differed from the inquisitor, if you imagine the mechanism of action of known instruments of torture, if you understand what the fundamental difference between execution and torture is, then, most likely, you have already visited the corporal punishment museum in Moscow. For the uninitiated, our virtual tour is intended.
On the history of the museum and its creator
The corporal punishment museum in Moscow began with a pair of ordinary handcuffs. Then one more was added to them, and another, and then the most real shackles appeared in the collection. These things were collected by a simple Moscow guy, a historian by education, Valery Pereverzev. His personal collection was replenished, and over time, all of its items became crowded in the same hands. So, at the end of 2011 the number of Moscow museums increased - Valery Pereverzev opened his own on Old Arbat.
What is remarkable about the corporal punishment museum on the Arbat?
It is impossible to say that his exposition is one of a kind. Similar institutions exist around the world, and even in Russia there are several interesting exhibitions on similar subjects. For example, the Gulag History Museum in Moscow or the Torture Museum in St. Petersburg. And yet this Moscow exposition is very remarkable.
Its founder put his whole soul into the work. He conducts excursions himself, meets with guests and prepares exhibits for the exhibition. Valery is a truly passionate person, apparently, which is why his undertaking was waiting for success.
The corporal punishment museum in Moscow lives in its own special atmosphere. And to create it, it’s not the heart-rending screams recorded on the film by a handful of actors, and not the fake bodies, which are stretched out on the hind, help to create it. Valery Pereverzev himself has the following opinion on this point: carefully selected elements of the decor and executioner's tools laid out as a ruler - best help to imbue the atmosphere of medieval cruelty.
Expositions
The exhibits of this museum are shocking. Many of them are genuine torture devices, saturated with the energy of suffering and death. Some are made by modern masters according to the drawings of the Middle Ages. But first things first.
In the first hall of the interested visitor, executioners meet. No, of course, not real, but only their portraits. They look at tourists from the walls of the museum and seem to escort them with their heavy looks. It is interesting that all these portraits were painted by Valery Pereverzev himself. This exposition, probably, may seem the most harmless: it does not plunge into a state of shock, but it tunes perfectly to the gloomy wave of the atmosphere of cruelty and suffering.
The second room is a torture workshop. Here you can see terrible guns and machines, learn more about their intended purpose and the boundaries of human cruelty and ingenuity.
Exposition No. 3 talks about the characteristics of corporal punishment. It also presents the tools with which the executioners once administered justice. In addition, the guide will tell you about the features of punishments, their types and methods.
The fourth hall is a place in which terrible devices are collected for the execution of the death sentence. Comments are unnecessary, it is better to listen to the guide in the museum.
The fifth exposition completes familiarization with the program. Here are the items that are used for punishment, torture and executions today. In fact, all these objects had their medieval ancestors, which visitors had already met in other halls. So the corporal punishment museum in Moscow becomes the place that makes it possible not only to get acquainted with some moments of history, but also to think about what we are doing in the present.
The most interesting exhibits
Do you know what St. Andrew’s cross is and how it differs from the cross of humility? St. Andrew's Cross is an X-shaped device for torture. The victim was fixed on him by pulling her limbs with ropes. The arms and legs of a man crucified on such a cross did not receive blood flow and died sooner or later. This instrument of torture received its name on the basis of the fact that it was on such a cross that St. Andrew the First-Called was crucified.
The cross of humility is a device with which the victim was fixed in one position, leaving her no possibility to move her hands. The cross of humility was usually used if it was necessary to immobilize the witch. Both the St. Andrew's Cross and the Cross of Humility can be seen in the museum on the Arbat.
There are also witch traps here. They are metal devices with spikes on long sticks. The studded part is designed to cover the witch's neck, keeping the woman at a safe distance from her executioner. So it was possible to bring her, say, to the scaffold, and not be afraid that she would begin to conjure.
Do you know what a "uterine cat" is? This is a device with which the insides of a person accused of pedophilia or bestiality were removed through his anus. This was always done in front of the local public.
Since we are talking about cats, one cannot fail to mention one device that will leave few indifferent. This is a catphone. Outwardly, it very much resembles a piano, only when you press the keys, injuries are caused to kittens placed in special compartments of the catophon. They publish a terrifying melody of fear, pain and agony. Indeed, for some people in those wild times there was nothing sacred.
A few words about immorality and imaginary psychopathologies, as well as reviews of tourists
On some particularly impressionable personalities, the name of the museum alone makes a lasting impression. Such people call the creators, workers and visitors of the exhibition mentally unstable, and visiting the museum itself is considered a terrible sedition. Is it justified? In no case.
As Valery Pereverzev himself admits, the corporal punishment museum on the Arbat was not conceived as a receptacle of vice and sodomy. In fact, his visit should not be scary. Just corporal punishment, torture and the death penalty are the same part of our history as the exploits of the allied army in the war against fascism. And to repudiate this unsightly part of the past is still not entirely honest.
By the way, tourists usually leave the museum under the impression. They say that the guide is very convincing immerses in the atmosphere of obscurantism that reigned in the Middle Ages. Well, it's probably better to see it with your own eyes.
Where to go?
So, important information for those who are determined to visit the corporal punishment museum in Moscow. The address is 25 Arbat Street. You can come, come, and look at the tour from 12 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. It is not difficult to find a museum; the Arbatskaya metro station is located nearby.
How much money to take with you?
We draw the attention of those who dream of visiting the corporal punishment museum: the price of a ticket depends on your gender. A visit to the museum will cost women 300 rubles, and men a hundred rubles more. Why is that? It’s just a little whim of the creator.
Persons under the age of 18 are allowed to enter the museum only accompanied by adult friends, parents, grandparents. The museum provides guided tours. It is better to check their prices by phone. Tickets for museums in Moscow can usually be bought at the museums themselves at the entrance.
