To mark the 80th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War, the permanent exhibition at Kirov’s Museum of Military Glory (a department of the Kirov Regional Museum of Local Lore named after P.V. Alabin) has been updated. A significant part of the exhibition is now devoted to weapons and military equipment.
– On the eve of the great holiday — Victory Day — we want not only to show the history behind the creation of truly revolutionary small-arms designs, but also to tell about the contribution of the Kirov region to the development and production of armaments for the Soviet Army, about its contribution to the Victory, – emphasized Yuri Balyberdin, director of the regional museum of local lore and Doctor of Historical Sciences.
He also noted that the uniqueness of the updated exhibition lies in the fact that its creation involved not only museum staff. Thanks to participation by the Vyatskopolyansky Historical Museum, residents of Kirov and visitors to the city will be able to see personal items of weapons designer Georgy Semyonovich Shpagin. Cooperation with members of the search-and-recovery movement made it possible to present items found on battlefields. Kirov modelers supplemented the exhibition with dozens of scale models of military equipment from the Great Patriotic War.
The Museum of Local Lore presented legendary weapon specimens from its collection for visitors: the Mosin rifle, the Degtyaryov light machine gun, the Tokarev semi-automatic rifle, the Shpagin submachine gun (PPSh), the TT pistol (Tula–Tokarev) and others. These are authentic items; many of them participated in battles of the Great Patriotic War.
Visitors will learn about the lives and work of famous weapons designers such as V.A. Degtyaryov, G.S. Shpagin, A.I. Sudaev, F.V. Tokarev, S.I. Mosin, and M.T. Kalashnikov.
The exhibition also reflects the military heroism of our fellow countrymen: Heroes of the Soviet Union, full cavaliers of the Order of Glory, Marshals of the Soviet Union, and ordinary soldiers and officers. Footage by frontline photo chronicler Daniil Fyodorovich Onokhin will help recreate the atmosphere of the war years.
The "Weapons of Victory" exhibition (6+) will be on display at the Museum of Military Glory until the end of 2025. Senior high school students and university students can visit the museum using the Pushkin Card, which operates under the national "Family" project.
