Military Museum of the Karelian Isthmus in Vyborg (Vyborg, Russia) - exhibitions, opening hours, address, phone numbers, official website.
- Last minute tours to Russia
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The Karelian Isthmus is a piece of land between the Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga. Since the beginning of chronicle times, these lands have been a stumbling block between neighboring peoples, and the 20th century was no exception. Two bloody Soviet-Finnish wars (1939-1944) claimed thousands of lives of soldiers and civilians on both sides of the border. In Vyborg there is the Military Museum of the Karelian Isthmus - a private collection consisting of objects found during excavations or collected from local residents. It was started in 2000 by a 23-year-old student at Stockholm and St. Petersburg universities, Bair Irincheev, now the director and ideological inspirer of the museum. Since childhood, he was fascinated by the history of the Finnish-Russian wars, wrote articles and books on this topic, and the collection of things from the war years became a logical continuation. He created the museum in 2013, when the collection could no longer fit in the country attic. At first it was the exhibition “Karelian Isthmus. War 1939-1944,” but a year later the entire exhibition was presented in the new museum.
What to see
The museum is absolutely unique. Precisely because this is a private collection, and the leadership has the right to express its point of view on Soviet-Finnish relations. The director of the museum lives in two countries - Russia and Finland (his wife is Finnish) and loves each of them. The museum displays military attributes of both the Soviet and Finnish armies: uniforms, weapons, insignia, propaganda leaflets, newspapers and posters, letters and photographs, handicrafts of Finnish soldiers, pre-war photographs of Vyborg.
Any exhibit can be picked up, tried on, and photographed.
Everything that is presented in the museum was found by military archaeologists and Bair Irincheev himself, bought from “black diggers”, brought by local residents, and donated. The exhibition is “live” - filled with emotions, respect for the feat of people and the victory of Soviet soldiers. The institution lives on fees from excursions and private donations. The team is very passionate about their work - everyone who has been there notes this in their reviews. The military museum is engaged not only in exhibitions, but also in nurturing the patriotic spirit among young people - lessons in memory, reconstruction, and excursions to battle sites are held. Here you can find out about the fate of your relatives who lived or fought on the territory of the isthmus. The mission of the museum is to preserve the memory of those killed in the Soviet-Finnish wars and strengthen mutual understanding between neighboring countries.
Practical information
Address: Vyborg, Central Barracks, st. Serf, 26. Website.
Opening hours: 11:00-18:00 from Wednesday to Sunday, Monday and Tuesday are days off. Ticket price: 250 RUB. Prices on the page are for October 2018.
We went for a walk around Vyborg. We didn't have any specific goal, we just went wherever our eyes led us. From Market Square we turned onto Progonnaya Street and began to look at the house, which was built at the end of the 14th century. And next to this house we saw the military museum of the Karelian Isthmus. Of course, we decided to go there.
The museum's exhibition is not dedicated to all 124 wars that took place on the isthmus, but only to the last two. In the museum you can photograph everything, pick up exhibits in your hands to examine them from all sides.
On the left in the photo are Degtyarev machine guns. We were told that the machine gun in the center was called “woodpecker” by the soldiers: 
A museum employee gave us a short tour and told us about the Mannerheim Line. He showed how they fired from Degtyarev’s machine gun: 
The weight of the machine gun was 13 kg, and it also had a container for three replaceable disks: 
I remember when I was still little, we found a lot of helmets and shields in Orekhovo. A helmet and bayonet were found in a neighboring area. The boys then played war with them for a long time: 
The Bolsheviks, of course, seized power illegally, I agree here. But it was they who gave independence to Finland. Apparently it follows from this that the independence of this country is also illegal. Isn't it? 
Finnish leaflets 1941-1944:
“Kharkov, one of the main vital centers of the Russian people, was finally taken by German troops on October 24!
….
The National Army of one hundred thousand, together with German troops, is fighting against Bolshevism!”
“During this period of time, the Red Army not only did not occupy a single inch of land, but, on the contrary, lost it”: 
Here is a handwritten leaflet written in Ukrainian (?) in which the Finns address “brothers Ukrainians and Belarusians”: 
“There is enough bread and ham in Finland!”: 
When the frosts were stronger than -30*C, our prisoners were not taken to logging. Then they made boxes for which they could get some food. It is known that in Finnish camps prisoners of war were kept much worse than in German ones; mortality from starvation was extremely high. These two boxes were preserved in Finnish families. I held these boxes in my hands: 
On the left in the photo is the uniform of “Lotta Svärd”, on the right is an album of siege postcards: 
In Finnish historiography there is an official view on the coverage of the siege of Leningrad. Any point of view that does not correspond to the official one is met with great irritation, because, as Petti Niskanen writes, “in Finland they are afraid of everything new in the study of wartime history and are afraid that it may bring pain to the soul of the Finns.” The official Finnish point of view is:
-The blockade of Leningrad would not have happened if there had not been a “winter war”.
-Finland did not conduct an attack on Leningrad, and its participation in the war was separate from Germany and had a defensive nature.
-Mannerheim became the “savior of Leningrad” when the Finnish army switched to trench warfare.
-The Finnish leadership took an indifferent position in relation to the task set by Hitler to destroy Leningrad.
-During the blockade of Leningrad, there was no desire on the Finnish side to tighten the siege of the city, and there were no attempts by bomber aircraft to penetrate its airspace.
Here you can refute every word, but I will not bring pain to the tender Finnish souls. They are not ready and do not want to listen, with their heads bowed, to Granin. It's more peaceful to live this way.
Yesterday's excursion to Vyborg was free, it was organized for bloggers and representatives of travel agencies.
They showed the first diorama in our history, dedicated to the war with Finland in 39-40, which opened this year. And also a military museum, which is organized in the very center of the city, on a fairly large territory of a former military unit. But I’ll tell you in detail about the diorama and the military unit itself in the next post, but for now I’ll present the second part of this new and very interesting museum.
This museum was created by a group of enthusiasts led by the famous historian Bair Irincheev.
Yesterday I held in my hands for the first time a German single machine gun MG-34 (Maschinengewehr 34), from World War II. Developed by Rheinmetall-Borsig AG
This weapon was one of the most terrible means of killing people in that war. First of all, because of its frantic rate of fire, which at that time seemed incredible.
I assume that during the war several million people were killed from it, primarily our soldiers, as well as civilians.
You can constantly see him in military newsreels.
In the first period of the war, the Wehrmacht had such a machine gun in every infantry squad, this gave the German infantry units enormous and superior firepower over all the armies of the world at that time.
It was serviced by two soldiers and had interchangeable barrels.
It was used in different versions, including as an anti-aircraft and easel. Weight without a tripod is 12 kg, which is relatively light.
It was possible to use both manually feeding the tape and using a magazine.
In this case, an anti-aircraft version was presented, on a tripod.
Following it, an even more advanced MG-42 appeared, which is still used in some armies around the world.
1.
5. The second part of the museum is located in a former soldier’s bathhouse. And this territory itself was in the past the central city barracks of Vyborg. 
6. I liked these installations. Moreover, our and Finnish photographs alternate. There are a lot of them on old windows. 
12. Weapons of the Second World War that you can pick up - that’s the main highlight. This is usually not the case in our state museums. 
13. Machine guns of World War II. There is even a British STEN, from which an unsuccessful attempt was made to assassinate Heydrich in Prague in 1942.
4 million units produced! 
14. Another exhibition, which is located in a former bathhouse. 
16. Here, from the known types of machine guns, our “Degtyarev” is presented 
17. Rifles and carbines. You can take everything and tighten the shutters.
There are several legendary three-rulers at once. A powerful rifle, but I think the recoil was good. 
18. General map of military operations in the winter of 1939-40.
The Priozersky district, the Sortavala region, as in 1944, then escaped the horrors of war and came under the control of the USSR under the terms of the truce.
The configuration of the Soviet-Finnish border in 1939 was somewhat surprising. I thought it was a straight line. It turns out that during the siege of Leningrad, the Finns went somewhat beyond the line of the old border. 
28. Well, I managed to hold the famous MP-40 in my hands.
The rate of fire is low, there are few cartridges, and the firing range is short. Perhaps the weight is less than that of our PPSh.
I don’t know why exactly this weapon in Soviet cinema and mass consciousness became a symbol of fascism and the German army. 
29. Well, it’s difficult to lift this thing alone. 
30. Unique exhibits. Found parts of Faust cartridges.
It must be said that Bair himself and his assistants are literally combing the battlefields of the last war. And so a huge number of different objects were found that remind us of those events. 
31. Part of the “female” exhibition. The main principle in this museum is that everything should be as authentic as possible, down to the smallest detail. 
About former military town in the center of Vyborg(and now the Military Museum of the Karelian Isthmus) I already told you a couple of weeks ago, and now - about the only diorama in Russia of the Soviet-Finnish war of 1940, as well as a little about the exhibition of the museum itself.
"In that unfamous war" (1940)
2. First, at the entrance, the director of the museum, Bair Irincheev, talks about how the diorama was created and what it cost (I’ll note in parentheses that it cost purely financially 4.7 million rubles from the funds of the presidential grant of 5 million, the undeveloped balance was returned to the federal treasury). But it's not that simple: most of the original items were found and preserved by enthusiasts over a couple of decades. That is, a database of artifacts has been accumulated for such a work of military historical art. 
3. Now we go into the premises of the former cadet canteen. It was she who was occupied for the diorama. 
4. Its name was given from the famous lines of Tvardovsky’s poem “...In that unfamous war.” 
[...]
Among the great cruel war,
I can’t imagine why,
I feel sorry for that distant fate
Like dead, alone,
It's like I'm lying there
Frozen, small, killed
In that unknown war,
Forgotten, small, lying.
1943
5. Now about the structure and principle of viewing such a diorama. In fact, this is not a diorama in its classical sense, but a three-dimensional space where you can walk both along the edges and through it - in the middle of the space, and all the time change your viewing angle to the presented realities of war. I don’t even know what to call it correctly. It was made with meaning: one edge is Finnish positions, the other edge is Soviet. The Soviet ones were covered with snow, and the Finnish ones were covered with snow mixed with the ground (from massive shelling by large-caliber artillery, which was confirmed by eyewitnesses in the zone of the most intense fighting). This is where the border of this transition is visible. Therefore, you can look at everything from both the “Finnish” side and the “Soviet” side. 
6. At the entrance we find ourselves on the Finnish front line, and a Finnish machine gunner. By the way, I only learned here that the Red Army (and then the Soviet Army) borrowed the legendary symbol of the USSR - the “earflap hat” - from the Finns after the 1940 war. Before this, the main winter headdress for soldiers was the Budyonnovka, which did not justify itself. And it was under People’s Commissar Timoshenko that a massive replacement of winter uniforms took place, including hats with earflaps. And just a year and a half later, in the Battle of Moscow in December 1941, the earflap hat became a widespread and common field uniform item. Here the Finn has the same earflaps under his helmet. 
7. If we go through the diorama to the “Soviet” half, then we see a soldier behind a Maxim machine gun. And I must say about one more interesting property of the diorama: almost all Soviet fighters in the diorama have prototypes on the battlefield.
Here it is Hero of the Soviet Union Vladimir Damura. It was a signalman, he was pulling a cable at the front line and saw that a machine gun remained on the parapet, but his crew was killed. So, he himself took this position and fought off counterattacks of the Finnish infantry all night from February 13 to 14. In the morning he came under artillery fire and was killed. 
8. The same person, from a different angle. Three-dimensional viewing space. Here we also see the uniform of the end of the war - quilted jackets and felt boots. Then this form “worked” perfectly in the Battle of Moscow and Stalingrad, at a time when the Germans had to suffer severely from frost. And the Soviet troops had already gone through this school in 1939/40. 
9. Another feature of this exhibition is that there are a lot of genuine objects found on the fields of former battles and inscribed on the diorama in the context of the place where they were used. Here, for example, is a ski armored shield on runners (on the right). It was assumed that the fighter would drag it along with him, and during shelling, set it up as a defense and shoot back. In the end, it did not prove to be particularly useful, but it was used in the first period of the war. The soldiers called him “Tanechka”, or LTB (soldier’s personal tank) 
10. The uniform of Soviet soldiers has also been recreated strictly as it was at the time of the war, with careful attention to even small details. As you can see, here is uniform from the early period of the war, with Budennovkas. Next to it is a tank built from plywood, but with a silhouette and proportions as close as possible to the real OT-130 tank (more about it below). 
11. Inside the Soviet dugout (dugout), many items inside are also authentic. You can come in and have a look. The stove is also real, military - and when you look at it, for some reason you immediately remember the later song “... the fire beats in a cramped stove.” 
12. And here is another real character who has a prototype - artilleryman Ivan Egorov, who received the star of the Hero of the Soviet Union in the battles of 1940. The cannon is an early modification, with wooden wheels. 
13. In February 1940, I. Egorov with his crew pulled a 45-mm cannon for direct fire and shot up close the embrasure of a Finnish bunker at an altitude of 65.5 (for this, in fact, he received a Hero). He died during the Great Patriotic War near Kharkov, in 1943. 
14. Overcoming engineering obstacles. Please note, this is already the “Finnish” half of the diorama - sprinkled with earth from artillery fire. 
15. The third real prototype is the Hero of the Soviet Union tanker Fyodor Pavlov, who fought on the OT-130 flamethrower tank. The battle of 12/17/1939 with its breakthrough through Finnish positions is recreated here. 
16. The flamethrower shot of the OT-130 light tank is shown very colorfully. But in general, this vehicle was dangerous for the crew itself if it exposed the starboard side to the enemy (there were tanks with fire mixture there). The armor here was only bulletproof; shells penetrated it. 
17. A Soviet soldier in a buttoned-up budyonnovka in a field position. 
18. Killed Red Army soldier, covered with snow. In situ, to be honest, it looks eerily realistic. It’s even a little uneasy when you walk next to him. 
19. On the lower tier, a huge number of real objects from the battlefield are displayed - you can examine and even touch some of them with your hands. Bottles, fragments, cartridges, pots, mugs, spoons, stove parts, etc. 
In general, it looks very realistic. Especially the principle of three-dimensional display - as I said above, this is not at all a “curved” diorama, where you seem to be far away. Here you can see angles like it was straight from the thick of the battle. It must be said that a colossal amount of work has been done, but the guys will continue to “finish” the space.
20. Poster from 1940. 
21. You can also see the main museum of the Karelian Isthmus. On the porch on the left, there is an entrance. 
22. Here is another unique feature, you can hold all the weapons on display in your hands, feel them personally (I don’t know how they got permission to do this - but it’s a fact!). Or, for example, deploy a Maxim machine gun on the spot yourself. 
23. In general, go nuts, of course. You can take everything and try it on as it lies in your hands. Soviet, Finnish, English, German weapons. The boys are simply blown away by such a unique opportunity. 
photo flackelf
24. The same famous MP-40 that they loved to show in films about phish players. 
photo flackelf
25. You can change into some kind of uniform! Different armies. 
photo flackelf
26. In general, I was completely stuck there during the personal inspection of the weapon and even forgot that I actually needed to take pictures for the post. Therefore, I had to take photos 23-25 from flackelf
.
27. There are albums (genuine) that you can carefully leaf through. History on paper... 
28. And in the far halls of the museum there is, as it were, a sub-museum - “Women in War”. It has its own thematic exhibition and excursions once an hour. 
29. Here is a nice young lady volunteer leading a tour. 
30. Many original items were also collected. 
31. Yes, and for dessert: only then did I understand why the front “triangle” was exactly a triangle and how it formed. Thank you for the opportunity to personally wrap up a real front-line letter. 
32. If we start to unfold it, we can see why: one side is the address, where to and from. The second is a receipt for receipt. 
33. Turn over... Inside the spread is a military censorship stamp. Mandatory procedure. Those. first the fighter writes a letter, on the other side - the address. Doesn't wrap. Then it is reviewed by a censor, and after the seal is affixed, it can be folded into a triangle. But an envelope is not needed here, with this technology. This is such a clever mechanic. 
Thank you for your attention!
And come to the Museum of the Karelian Isthmus in Vyborg. It's really cool here, honestly.
