The UMMC Museum (Pyshma) is located in the suburbs of Yekaterinburg and is a unique exhibition space, which presents the history of military equipment and the stages of development of the automotive industry. The exposition was conceived as a social project of the UMMC-Holding company. In a short time, a museum complex was opened from a small collection of war machines and equipment that was open for development, communication, education and training.
History
The opening of the UMMC museum in Verkhnyaya Pyshma was timed to the 60th anniversary of the Victory and took place on May 9, 2005. The first exposition, which consisted of several units of military equipment, was located in the open air near the entrance of the Uralelectromed enterprise. After 10 years, the collection grew, which allowed to open a large exhibition area where armored vehicles, artillery pieces, self-propelled guns, airplanes and much more were presented.
In 2013, on Victory Day, the exhibition center opened its doors completely dedicated to military equipment. The collection is constantly updated with new rarities. On the first two floors of the museum are exhibits that once took part in hostilities. The third floor tells the military history of the Urals. For some time, the center housed a collection of civilian cars, which became the core of the later opened auto museum.
In 2015, the UMMC Museum expanded due to another open area dedicated to the feat of railway workers during the Great Patriotic War. A year later, a platform appeared in the arsenal with an exposition of naval equipment. The pride of this collection is the mock-ups of project boats 161, 194 and the Malyutka submarine, as well as the mock-up of a river boat of project 1125, which took part in the Battle of Stalingrad.
Museum of military equipment
The Museum of Technology of the UMMC (Verkhnyaya Pyshma) was conceived as a social project whose goal was to preserve the heritage of the exploit of the Soviet people, military-patriotic education of youth. The exposition center became the pearl of the Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company, which managed to attract not only its employees, but also veterans, members of public organizations and schoolchildren.
Today the UMMC Museum has become the largest complex, not inferior in its completeness to the museums of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Saratov and other cities. Over a decade of activity, museum employees have collected more than 200 copies of military equipment, models of firearms, uniforms, national awards and much more. In 2011, the museum was awarded the honorary status of a branch of the Central Museum of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.
The open area of the museum occupies almost 6 hectares, the exposition of the exhibition center is spread over more than 7 thousand square meters. The number of visitors is constantly growing, the monthly flow of tourists is approximately 17 thousand people.
Exposition
The UMMC Museum invites visitors to get acquainted with the following departments of the exposition:
- Rail transport - the collection is located in an open area. The pride of the meeting is the layout of the Uzlovaya station. Reconstruction work was carried out based on archival materials and photographs depicting the Kapralovo station, which was once located in the city of Revda, Sverdlovsk Region. The ensemble includes a water tower, water columns and much more. Near the station, on five tracks, steam locomotives with wagons, armored cars, heat tanks, and railway platforms are exhibited. In the warm season, an exhibition is open for visitors on the work and arrangement of ambulance trains during the Second World War.
- Aviation - on an open area, sightseers can get acquainted with such machines as the MiG-21PFM, helicopters of the Mi-21, Mi-2 and Mi-8 models. The audience will be interested in an extensive collection of training aircraft, a fighter-bomber, as well as mock-ups of legendary cars of the Second World War. Open-air bombers and post-war models of supersonic aircraft spread their wings in the open air. The largest unit on the site is the Tu-16LL flying laboratory, which had been in operation until 1995.
- Artillery - in this part of the exposition mortar systems of the pre-war and war years, howitzers, guns and much more are presented.
- Awards, uniforms and weapons - the collection contains historical rarities of military insignia, badges, military uniforms, personal items, award weapons related to the Patriotic War of 1812 and the Great Patriotic War.
Military equipment annually takes part in the city parade dedicated to Victory Day.
Tours
The collection of exhibits at the UMMC Museum contains several thousand items. Residents and visitors are invited to visit the exhibition with the following excursions:
- Sightseeing. Visitors get acquainted with the main exposition located on three floors of the museum center.
- Soviet pre-war tanks. The tour introduces visitors to the history of the appearance and construction of the first tanks, their design features and application. Many of the exhibits could jump over wide ditches, overcome swamps and river barriers. The collection reflects the quality and rapid development of domestic tank building.
- Military auto industry. During the tour, visitors get acquainted with Soviet armored cars, military vehicles of pre-war release. Also on this tour is a detailed story about the legends of the American automotive industry - SUVs "Dodge" and "Willis."
- Sanitary trains during the Second World War - a unique tour dedicated to visitors, especially the functioning of the military-sanitary trains during the Great Patriotic War. The doctors and nurses of these hospitals on wheels saved thousands of lives, sent millions of wounded soldiers to the rear. Tourists get the opportunity to find out how the staff worked, see the operating room device and understand how dedicated the work of doctors and nurses was.
The duration of any excursion is 1 hour, the cost of tickets is from 300 to 500 rubles, a preliminary appointment is required for visiting. The exposition “Sanitary train” is open in the summer months.
Car history
The UMMC Automobile Technology Museum in Verkhnyaya Pyshma was opened in 2018. The presented collection of exhibits of automotive retro-technology is considered one of the largest and best in Russia. A complex was built for the museum, on 4 floors of which more than 160 units of cars, bicycles, and motor vehicles are represented. The first level is dedicated to the beginning of the automotive era. In the hall you can admire the first masterpieces of the automobile industry of the brands Auburn, Rolls-Royce, Cadillac, Packard and Delaunay-Belleville, whose cars were in the fleet of Emperor Nicholas II.
The next two floors are represented by domestic cars. The collection tracks the history of the automotive industry, starting with the machines of the Gorky plant in the early 30s to the end of the 20th century. The exposition contains experimental samples and cars produced in limited quantities. Four main locations are dedicated to executive cars that served the top managers of the USSR. The meeting has no analogues.
On the last, 4th floor of the UMMC Museum of Technology, a collection of sports cars and motorcycles of the early 20th century is presented, including Harley-Davidson, Indian, NATI-A-750, IZH-7. Of interest are racing cars "Estonia", sports motorcycles and other equipment.
Tours
The Museum of Automotive Engineering in Verkhnyaya Pyshma invites you to visit such excursions:
- Sightseeing tour lasting 1 hour, designed for visitors of any age.
- For small motorists aged 5–8 years, the duration is from 40 to 50 minutes.
- “Autohistory”, students up to 16 years old are invited to this informative tour. Duration - 60 minutes.
The cost of excursions is from 300 to 500 rubles, a preliminary appointment is required for visiting.
The UMMC Museum implements educational programs, a modeling circle for children, open lessons and military-historical games for adults and children, and interactive tank simulators are installed for those who want to feel themselves on the battlefield.
