Exhibition "History of the Political Police and State Security Organs of Russia"

About exhibition

The only publicly accessible museum in the country devoted to the history of domestic special services presents a new permanent exhibition. The exhibition tells the story of the political police and state security organs of Russia in the 19th–20th centuries. The museum is located at 2 Gorokhovaya Street for a reason — Russian and Soviet secret services worked here for more than fifty years. The exhibition begins with an account of the activities of the Third Section of His Imperial Majesty's Own Chancellery, established in 1826. On display are interrogation protocols of writers and terrorists, a suitcase with a false bottom, and a vest used to transport illegal literature. Fragments of an underground printing press, the cloakroom of informers, and the correspondence-inspection office have been reconstructed. Special attention is given to the history of the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution and Sabotage (the Cheka). In 1917 the Cheka was housed in the building at 2 Gorokhovaya Street. Visitors will see the personal effects of Cheka Chairman Dzerzhinsky and other chekists, items from the Pre-Trial Detention House: a cell door, a guard call bell, and a chair used for photographing prisoners. Dzerzhinsky's first working office occupies a special place in the exhibition. The final section reveals the history of the Soviet state security organs from 1918 to 1953. On display are the bullet removed from the body of V. Volodarsky, the ashtray of the head of Leningrad's chekists Messing, and the personal belongings of legendary Soviet intelligence officers.