Russia, like any other civilized country, is abundant in a wide variety of exhibition complexes, museums, art galleries and other cultural objects. Not so long ago - in 2004 - their list was replenished with one more: a new museum was opened in Izhevsk (Kalashnikova). In some ways, its name is somewhat arbitrary, since the exposition includes not only the embodiment of the ideas of the famous gunsmith. Here is a variety of small arms. However, a museum with a similar name is located on the territory of the plant, so the new cultural object was given the name of the legendary weapons creator.
History of a famous factory
The museum in Izhevsk (Kalashnikov is respected here) begins its exhibition from very old times. The exposition opens by illustrating the history of weapons in general, for example, a sample of a silicon gun, also manufactured at a local factory, is presented. Note that he was already two hundred years old, and during all this time the plant was engaged - and very successfully - with weapons.
No less interesting are the specimens of Berdanas, which were made in the 19th century and were widely used by the tsarist Russian army. It is worth noting that their "author" was an American by the name of Berdan - hence the fixed name of the rifles. At the same time, the Russian craftsmen didn’t just confess the finished weapons, but made a number of very successful improvements.
The museum in Izhevsk (which Kalashnikov, not the factory one) also displays the famous three-rulers - rifles of the First World War and the Civil War. Their "father" was already Russian (Mosin), who, in principle, was the representative of a "competitor" - an arms factory in Tula. However, three-rulers were produced precisely in Izhevsk.
World War II and Izhevsk weapons
It was during these years that the plant was most in demand and covered itself with fame. The Kalashnikov Museum in Izhevsk shows all types of weapons produced here. Here, and machine guns, and aircraft guns (Nudelman-Suranov and Shpitalny), and the Berezin gun, and anti-tank rifles (both by Degtyarev and Simonov’s design) are almost the entire “assortment” used in those difficult years. We can say that the Izhevsk plant created the material base, thanks to which victory was won.
The era of M.T. Kalashnikov
Nevertheless, it was this designer-gunsmith who brought genuine recognition to the plant. In his field, he was a truly talented person. The museum in Izhevsk (Kalashnikov) presents for inspection samples of all his "works", even those that were not launched into the series. Naturally, the most striking subject of the exposition is the world famous Kalashnikov assault rifle, familiar even to schoolchildren, still not defeated by any other prototype in terms of reliability and ease of handling. Although enough time has passed since its creation in 1949, and weapons have gone far ahead, accuracy of firing from AKs, the ability to use cartridges very different in caliber when shooting (5.56 are very far from 7.62, you must admit), low weight and convenience for the shooter remain second to none.
At the same time, the designer himself was not at all limited to this ingenious development of his own. His talent holds 35 patents for very different weapons - from machine guns to hunting rifles. And the improvements made by the designer to the “devices” created by others are also very significant.
Museum Principles
The creators of this exhibition complex approached the task creatively. This is not a boring collection of some individual exhibits. The improvement of weapons is closely linked with the general technical development of human thought and civilization. The Kalashnikov Museum neatly and harmoniously writes the development and modification of means of extermination into history, shows weapons business as one of the areas of technical development and culture of all mankind.
Many exhibits are interactive in a modern way. A striking event can be considered the composition "The Fate of Man", which talks about the formation of Kalashnikov himself. Almost anyone is interested in listening to the memoirs of the designer himself and watching his biography film - both are transmitted on a high-quality “plasma”. Competent guides who are ready to tell little-known facts both from the life of the designer and from the history of weapons work competently and very excitingly. The visitors believe that the exposition does not work on Sundays.
