Description of the attraction
The Universe of Water Museum Complex is one of the newest museums in Russia. Located in the Water Tower and the premises of the former underground reservoir of the Main Waterworks at 56 Shpalernaya Street, opposite the Tavrichesky Palace in St. Petersburg. The tower was erected in brick style between 1859 and 1862 by architects E. G. Shubersky and I. A. Merz. The museum shows the history, current state and prospects of water supply and wastewater disposal in St. Petersburg, the use of water in everyday life, the state of water resources.
The Museum and Exhibition Complex "The World of St. Petersburg Water" (halls on the III, IV and VI floors) harmoniously combines the historical and modern exposition, the idea of a traditional and interactive museum. Some of the items on display can be touched with your hands and watched in action.
The exposition "The Underground World of St. Petersburg" is a multimedia complex located in the left wing of the Water Tower. Here, in a huge hall, there is a giant model of the city center (scale 1: 500), which tells about the path of water underground. The Neva is depicted on the floor, you can see how rivers flow into it from the right and left sides, how the city is located along its banks and how the dam blocks the bay. Visitors have the opportunity to go on a journey through the "dungeon". Together with the water, they go all its way: first they end up at the waterworks, then - underground, where the pipes are, then - in the basement of a residential building, in the sewer, in which the used water is found, then - at the treatment facilities and, finally, at the bottom of the Gulf of Finland, aboard a submarine. These stages show visitors the city's water cycle and the problems of water intake and wastewater treatment.
The next multimedia exhibition is called "The Universe of Water". Located in a former clean water tank. Dedicated to the theme of water: water as a standard, water as the greatest mystery, water as music, water as medicine, water as a destroyer. The space surrounding the guests of the museum is changeable, like water itself: the video sequence, sounds, and light change.
On the third floor there is a historical exposition, consisting of 2 parts: the first tells about water in the history of human civilization and about water supply and sewerage among the peoples of Egypt, Mesopotamia, China, Assyria, ancient Rome and Greece and medieval Europe. There is a separate story about water in Russia. The second part of the exposition is devoted to water supply and wastewater disposal in St. Petersburg from the moment of its formation until 1858.
On the 4th and 5th floors there are collected materials about water supply and sewerage of St. Petersburg in 1858-1917. It is from 1858 that the history of the St. Petersburg "Vodokanal" begins. The exposition is dedicated to the design and construction of water supply and sewerage networks, the development of water treatment facilities, and water quality control. Whole sections tell about the use of water in everyday life, about vocational training, scientific research, inventions in the field of water supply and sanitation. On the 5th floor, the interior of the office of the manager of the St. Petersburg water pipelines has been restored. There are also stands with biographies of the leaders of the St. Petersburg water supply and sewerage system of the past years.
On the VI and VII floors, the exposition tells about the water supply and sewerage system of St. Petersburg from 1917 to the present. Chronologically, the exhibition begins on the 7th floor, where there are materials from the pre-war period. The VI floor tells about the Leningrad "Vodokanal" during the Second World War, the post-war restoration of water supply and sewerage networks, the subsequent development of water supply and sewerage, the modern "Vodokanal of St. Petersburg". Here you can see the achievements of the enterprise.
