In Rybinsk, a beautiful city on the Volga, they preserve the memory of settlements that disappeared from Russia's maps almost a hundred years ago. In their place a huge Rybinsk Sea was formed — that's what they call the reservoir here.
In the building of the former "Gostinny Dvor" (that's spelled with two "n"s, in the old-fashioned way — that's how the trading rows in Rybinsk are labeled) there is an exhibition-model "Unknown Mologa. Russian Atlantis".
Exhibition spaces in the former trading rows
Exhibition
The creators of the exhibition are a large team. There is a historian, an architect, an artist, a model maker, a programmer, a photographer, a designer, a carpenter... It's very nice that the names of everyone involved are listed on a large information board.
The main exhibit of the exhibition is a model of the flooded town of Mologa, which stood until 19__ at the confluence of the river of the same name and the Volga. At the exhibition I realized an important fact: the settlements were not flooded completely. Residents needed to move to new land together with their houses within a certain period! One of the exhibited items is precisely a model of a raft of a Mologa resettler: people with sacks, logs, doors, window surrounds and with domestic animals were ferried along the Volga to the allocated new lands. But tall stone structures, such as churches and bell towers, could not be moved, so for many years they would show themselves above the water during periods when the water level fell.
The model is executed perfectly, because clear plans of the town and photographs of important buildings have been preserved: religious buildings, gymnasiums, the library, the hospital, the post office, an electric theatre, a canteen, a mill... Sometimes night falls on the model and then lights come on in the residential houses.
On a large interactive screen you can read historical information about some of the buildings. And in the beautiful window surrounds there are photographs of Mologa's residents, accompanied by audio recordings of their accounts about life in the flooded town.
Confluence of the Volga and the Mologa on the model
Residents' memories
Resettler's raft
City plan
This exhibition is the most powerful museum impression of Rybinsk. The exhibition is long-term, but still not permanent, so hurry! There is plenty to see in Rybinsk.
My group "Neoklassika" and I will travel around the Yaroslavl region during the New Year's holidays.
View of the Volga from the bell tower
