An exhibition about military microbiologists has opened for the first time at the Kirov Museum of Military Glory.

The exhibition "Soldiers of the Invisible Front" (6+) will tell about the development of microbiology as a science and the heroism of epidemiologist doctors.

One of the least known pages in the history of domestic military medicine is the history of microbiology as a branch of medical knowledge and its application on the battlefield. The work of medical microbiologists and epidemiologists has always been among the most dangerous; it is a constant, daily risk taken to save the civilian population from natural epidemics and bacteriological weapons.

"This exhibition once again demonstrates the greatness of our people's scientific thought: even in the difficult years of war our scientists created the medicinal products needed at the front. The exhibition's name is not accidental: at first glance this work may go unnoticed, but thanks to the efforts of scientists, among whom are our fellow countrymen, hundreds of thousands of lives were saved," said Yuri Balyberdin, director of the local history museum.

The first section of the exhibition tells about the formation of microbiology as a field of knowledge and the first steps in the fight against dangerous infections. Here, in particular, copies of the unique medals "For Inoculation against Smallpox" (1826) and "For the Cessation of the Plague in Odessa" (1837) are displayed. Visitors will learn how, at the beginning of the 20th century, epidemics of such deadly diseases as plague and typhus were fought, and will see unique photographs capturing the fight against the plague in Manchuria.

The main section of the exhibition is devoted to the activities of epidemiologists during the Great Patriotic War. Museum staff recreated the interior of a laboratory of a military epidemiological hospital. Here you can see uniquely preserved samples of laboratory equipment from the 1930s–1940s and an anti-plague suit from the 1940s. For comparison, a modern suit used to combat COVID-19 is displayed alongside.

The third block of the exhibition tells the history and activities of the 48th Central Research Institute (now the Research Institute of Microbiology), which is located in the city of Kirov. The central exhibits are a uniform tunic, awards, personal belongings and books of Evgeny Dmitrievich Petryaev (1913–1987), a military doctor-microbiologist, participant in the events on the Khalkhin-Gol river and in the Soviet–Japanese War of 1945, who later became a well-known Vyatka local historian.

The exhibition features an interactive zone where anyone who wishes can imagine themselves as a scientist-microbiologist: look into a modern electron microscope and try on a special protective suit.

Музей воинской славы

14 февраля 2014 года в Кировской области был открыт музей, посвященный 25-летию вывода советских войск из Афганистана. Впоследствии музей расширил свою экспозицию и получил название Музей воинской сла ...

Кировская обл., г. Киров, ул. Красноармейская, д. 1а