ЗWe start winter with two untraditional albums-both are
dedicated to the Military Historical Museum of the Artillery, the
Engineers and Signallers. The museum lies in Kronverk (the Arsenal), in the Peter
and Paul Fortress, just by Gorkovskaya Metro Station (address:
Aleksandrovsky Park no. 7).
One initial remark: there are more than
200-300 thousand exhibits in about 13 halls. What you will see in this
and the following albums is a very small part, and in addition chosen
more or less at random.
In this album the pictures show things from
the pre-revolutionary period, and in the next album there will be things
from the Soviet period.
A battle between one side and another.
One of them was certainly ours.
The museum dates back to 1756, when there
was a Memorable Hall in the Petersburg Arsenal on Liteiny Prospekt.
The museum moved to Kronverk in 1868, and in 1963 the Museum of Military
History was merged with it.
One immediately recognises a well-crafted
ball. Not what they make nowadays, it's made in one pressing :)
I cannot comment on many of these
exhibits, as I hardly photographed the plaques-I forgot the extra
batteries. If you have anything to add, write me.
By the way, here one may still photograph
nearly for free (as opposed to taking video film).
True enough, there is little light, so that without a tripod, the
photos hold a low quality. One of the Wandering Camera's readers
remarked that an interesting cannon failed to enter my zone of vision.
It has an oval barrel to make the case-shot fall on the ground, and not
scatter in a helter-skelter way.
Halberds. I suppose.
And if they surround us... :)
A kettledrum cart. Kettledrums are
semi-cauldrons and semi-drums, with hides tightly drawn across the
cauldron. To the left by the flag it is.
This is clearly an object of
pride at the museum. In contrast to most of the other exhibits, it is
accompanied by a "Do not touch the exhibits"-sign (I removed it from the
photo).
In the centre, there is a monogram with a
crown and the letter "E", and inside it, the number "I". Probably from
the reign of Catherine I (Ekaterina in Russian) or Elizabeth
(Elizaveta).
Sabres and swords.
Here I can only say that trumpet dates
from 1804.
A fragment of the inscription: "...
Turkish War"
In the middle is the Russian coat of arms.
I'll add that there are two open
courtyards by the museum. One is small, and various old cannons are
exhibited there. The second is large, with many different arms from the
Soviet period. Judging by the appearance of a small fence and a
janitor's booth, one will soon have to acquire a ticket to enter the
yards as well.
Ship's cannons, probably from the time of
the Russo-Japanese War.
Missiles and their work (an armoured
plate with a hole in it).
"An audiometric device constructed by
Benois from 1914.
During the Russo-Japanese War in 1904-1905, the
artillery, because of the growing firepower, had to change into firing
from closed artillery positions. This made it necessary to find new ways
of uncovering the firearms positions of the enemy. In 1909, the Russian
officer N.A. Benois suggested a way of discovering enemy artillery
batteries according to the sounds of
their shots, and in 1914 he invented a set of equipment for this use.
The audiometric device he invented gave the possibility of finding a
target's coordinates at 6-8 kilometres' distance and 10 degrees' angle
of intersection, with an accuracy of 1 unit of the angle gauge for
direction and 3 per cent for distance.
The device was used during the First World War 1914-1918."
This is the armoured car from which V.I.
Lenin held his speech at the Finland Station in 1917.
At the opposite side of the armoured car, there is an inscription made
in red paint: "The enemy of capital".
It used to stand in the square
in front of the Marble Palace (The Lenin Museum used to be in the
Palace), but the new authorities took it away from there and put up
their own symbol, a statue of Alexander III (which until the Revolution
stood at Vosstaniya Square by the Moscow Station, and afterwards in the
backyard of the Russian Museum).
A statue of Bagration, if I'm not
mistaken.
In the next album, we continue our walk in the halls of the museum...
