Central Museum of the Great Patriotic War
The Central Museum of the Great Patriotic War is a large memorial complex located in Moscow. The thematic museum and Victory Park have been welcoming visitors since 1995. The permanent museum expositions and exhibitions on Poklonnaya Hill are visited daily by hundreds of Muscovites and tourists. In the Central Museum of the Great Patriotic War you can see samples of weapons and military equipment, rare documents and photographs. In its halls are kept things and uniforms of famous marshals and generals, holders of the Order of Victory and those who were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Museum sections tell about the most outstanding feats and ordinary everyday life on the war fronts. The museum staff conducts group and individual tours, maintains a unique Book of Remembrance, and advises visitors and researchers.
Video: Central Museum of the Great Patriotic War
Contents- Highlights
- Main Halls
- Motors of War
- Book of Memory
Outdoor Exhibits - Children’s Programs
- Visitor Information
- How to Get There
Highlights
The two largest rooms, the Hall of Fame and the Hall of Generals, are regularly used for receptions, choral groups, dance groups, and famous orchestras. In addition, there are three smaller halls in the main museum building catering to more chamber-like gatherings.
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Main halls
Visitors who come to the Central Museum of the Great Patriotic War, begin their inspection with the Hall of Military Leaders. Its area reaches 1,300 m². This part of the museum presents a gallery of bronze cast busts of heroes who were awarded the Order of Victory. The high award was approved in November 1943 and was awarded exclusively to persons from the senior command staff of the Soviet army.
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The centerpiece is the huge Hall of Fame, which has an area of 1960 m². The spacious room immortalizes the names of 11,800 Heroes of the Soviet Union who received this award during the war years. The names of the heroes can be seen on white marble pylons, and in the center of the hall stands the sculpture “Soldier of Victory” made by artist Valentin Ivanovich Znoba. On the pedestal of this monument lies a sword made by craftsmen from Tula.
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The Hall of Remembrance and Sorrow is decorated in dark colors. There are no bright lights, there is always sad music playing, and the slabs on the walls are finished in black, red, and scarlet marble. This hall was created in memory of the 26.6 million citizens of our country who died or went missing during the difficult war years.
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More than 4 thousand square meters of museum space is occupied by the gallery of artistic works, where paintings, graphic works and sculptures of military themes are exhibited. In addition, the main building houses colorful dioramas telling about the epochal events of those times – the counter-offensive in December 1941 near Moscow, the Battle of Stalingrad, the siege of Leningrad, the tank battle at the Kursk Bulge, the crossing of the Dnieper River and the battles for Berlin. All of them are made in a realistic manner by the people’s artist E. I. Danilevsky. I. Danilevsky.
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Motors of War
Near the main building of the Central Museum of the Great Patriotic War since 2011 there is a covered area where there is an exhibition of wheeled, tracked, light and heavy vehicles of domestic and foreign production. These are the famous semi-trucks “ZIS-5”, which helped our soldiers on the hard roads of the war and transported blockade runners from besieged Leningrad.
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The grounds also exhibit “GAZ-MM”, Willys, armored ZIS-110, artillery tractors, armored personnel carriers, fire trucks that served military airfields, boat engines and motorcycles. In addition to equipment, this part of the museum exhibits old documents: driver’s licenses of the war years, passes and uniforms of servicemen-chauffeurs.
.Book of Remembrance
Children’s Programs
For schoolchildren, the Central Museum of the Great Patriotic War organizes lessons of courage, quizzes, contests, educational excursions, interactive games and entertaining programs. During such lessons children can visit an army dugout, make a small march in military ammunition, learn how to use weapons used by the heroes of Byzantine times. They have the opportunity to assemble and tie a duffel bag, to learn the “secrets” of winding up shoelaces and independently write and fold front letters.
.Information for visitors
For guests, the Central Museum of the Great Patriotic War is open any day except Monday. On Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday it is open from 10.00 to 20.00, on Thursdays and Fridays – from 10.00 to 20.30. The outdoor exhibition areas can be visited from 11.00 to 18.30. The ticket office closes half an hour earlier.
.Children under the age of 16, disabled children and their accompanying persons, veterans and disabled war veterans and veterans of combat operations are admitted to the museum free of charge. On the last Sunday of each month, students, large families, students of military schools and disabled people of groups 1 and 2 have the right to visit the museum free of charge.
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How to get there
The Central Museum of the Great Patriotic War is located on Victory Square, 1.1 km southwest of the metro station “Park Pobedy”. It takes 12-15 minutes to walk along the park alleys to the museum. Not far away, on Kutuzovsky Avenue, there is a bus stop “Poklonnaya Gora”. In walking distance from the museum building is also the platform “Moscow – Sortirovochnaya” of the Kiev railroad. There are two bicycle parking lots near the building.
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