Description of the attraction
The hero city of Sevastopol is inextricably linked with the history of the Black Sea Fleet. In honor of the dead sailors of the Black Sea Fleet, a unique museum was created in Sevastopol by grateful descendants. This museum possesses very important documents and the most valuable relics of the military history of the famous Black Sea Fleet.
On September 14, 1869, in the city of Sevastopol, the military history museum of the fleet was opened in the house of one of the prominent figures of the first defense of the city of Sevastopol - E. I. Totleben, who served as general engineer.
To create a museum in the city, a special committee was established that collected voluntary donations. The chairman of this committee was Lieutenant General P. K. Menkov. In addition to him, the commission included former participants in the hostilities in the Crimean War and those who fired up the idea of creating a museum.
The newspaper "Russian invalid" in a fairly short period of time has collected an amount exceeding twelve thousand rubles. The museum fund still contains letters that came from different parts of the Russian Empire, testifying to the desire of different people to transfer the preserved trophies and unique relics of the times of the heroic defense of Sevastopol to the museum. These ordinary people with a great desire to contribute to the construction of the museum became the key to its success.
By 1913, the available catalog of the military history museum of Sevastopol already numbered more than two thousand exhibits. Here were the most valuable relics that could become the pride of any other museum in Russia. In 1905, when the city was celebrating the 50th anniversary of its defense, a lot of materials were donated to the museum. When the civil war ended, new departments appeared in the museum, which covered the revolutionary events that took place from 1905 to 1917. The main part of the museum's exposition at the beginning of the Patriotic War was taken to Baku, and then transported to Ulyanovsk. During the war years, the collection continued to grow. Fighters, defenders of the city, directly from the combat areas carried bloody documents pierced by bullets, for their delivery to the museum. After Sevastopol was liberated from the Nazi invaders in heroic battles, most of the exhibits returned to the city.
While the building of the historical museum was being restored, which was badly damaged, it was decided to transfer the exposition to an art gallery located on Nakhimov Avenue. On August 15, 1948, the restored museum opened its doors to visitors again.
Today the museum exposition tells about the history of the Black Sea Fleet from the day of its foundation to the present day. The museum contains a unique collection of ancient and modern weapons, ship models, military uniforms, battle paintings and old photographs.
Seven halls of the museum are dedicated to various stages of the development and existence of the fleet. An open exhibition of military equipment is located in the courtyard of the building.
