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Thursday, 19.07.2007
Naval Museum
The “Central Museum of the Russian Navy” on the Strelka is one of Russia’s oldest and most important museums. It was founded in 1805 during the reign of Alexander I, and even then it could draw on a sizeable collection dating from Peter the Great’s times.
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The extensive rooms give visitors a superb view of 300-year old history of the Russian naval fleet.
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The museum building commands the eastern point of Vassily Island, known as the Strelka. Its exterior features Doric columns and groups of sculptures beneath each gable symbolising Neptune and Mercury, surrounded by personifications of the Neva, Volkhov, Volga and Dniepro rivers.
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The neo-classicist temple-style building is still known as the Exchange; the Petersburg Stock Exchange was located here until 1885.
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| Coordinates |
Birschevaya Ploshchad 4
Nearest Metro: Sportivnaya
Opening hours: 11.00am - 6.00pm
Closed: Mondays, Tuesdays, last Thursday of the month
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The exhibitions in the first floor follow two main themes: the history of the Russian fleet, and the history of the Soviet fleet. The rooms contain many ship models, busts of admirals, pictures of decisive naval battles, flags from a whole range of countries, military decorations, historical charts as well as all sorts of ships’ fitting.
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The heart of the museum is the first room containing the most valuable and oldest exhibits including Peter the Great’s sloop on which he learnt to navigate the Jausa in Moscow. The Tsar himself called this boat the ‘Grandfather of the Russian navy’.
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A further treasure is a small wooden ship model that Peter the Great built after studying shipbuilding while travelling in Europe.
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A glass cabinet has recently been installed in the entrance hall dedicated to the crew of the ‘Kursk’ submarine that sunk on 12th August.
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The second floor hosts temporary exhibitions tracing the historical development of Russian shipping.
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(hw/rUFO)
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