On September 6, the exhibition 'Witnesses of Time: about the city and its citizens' (0+) opened at the 'Diorama' museum and exhibition center in Kirov, dedicated to the 650th anniversary of the city of Kirov.
The exposition features over 120 exhibits reflecting different periods of the city's life: for the first time a number of archival documents are on display, photographs from the 1930s–1940s, printed materials from the Soviet years, personal belongings of Sergey Kirov, whose name the city took 90 years ago in 1934, the writer and honorary citizen of the Kirov region Vladimir Sitnikov, and Metropolitan Khrisanf of Vyatka and Slobodskoy, who served in the Vyatka diocese for 33 years and became the founder of the famous Saint Tryphon educational readings.
The exhibition tells about the development of industry and construction, how the city grew and how its appearance changed.
Visitors will learn that by the beginning of the Great Patriotic War Kirov's enterprises were producing almost half of the textbooks printed in the country, a third of all leather substitutes, which were extremely popular at the time in the manufacture of shoes, bags and leather goods. And during the war years Kirov became a powerful support for the front – its enterprises and the factories and plants evacuated here produced military equipment, shells and uniforms. In 1974 the city was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labour. And in 2021 Kirov received the honorary federal title 'City of Labour Glory'.
