Central Naval Museum (1950 - 1990)

CENTRAL NAVAL MUSEUM (1950 - 1990)

From the 1950s, a chain of the Central Naval Museum’s branches began to appear. In 1956 a branch was established on the cruiser Aurora, the first museum ship in the country.

In 1972, another subsidiary, the Road of Life, was established on the shore of Ladoga Lake, dedicated to the operations at the Leningrad and Volkhov Fronts and Ladoga Naval Flotilla, who defended the only route that connected the besieged Leningrad with the mainland.

In 1977 the Chesme Victory branch, which was opened in Leningrad, in the building of the Chesme church, in memory of the actions of the Russian Navy during the Russo-Turkish War of 1768–1774. But this department was closed in 1994 as the church was recovered by the Diocese.

 In 1980 the Kronstadt Fortress subsidiary began its work on the 1st floor gallery in the Kronstadt Naval Cathedral. In 2006 the Chief Naval Commander decided to give the whole building of the cathedral to the Central Naval Museum subsidiary.

At the end of the 1980s one of the first Soviet submarines, D-2, Narodovolets, began its conversion into a museum department of the Naval Museum. The department was opened in 1994 and was the first museum submarine in Russia.

Publishing is also among the activities of the museum. Only three catalogue editions were issued before 1917, whereas between 1960 and 1991 eight catalogues were released. Guidebooks and leaflets of the museum and its subsidiaries were re-issued many times and six collections of museum research papers were published too. Exhibition catalogues were produced in cooperation with Russian and foreign publishing houses. Museum specialists publish their works extensively.