The hero-city of Sevastopol is inextricably linked to the history of the Black Sea Fleet. Fleet. In honour of the fallen military sailors of the Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol. a unique museum was created by grateful descendants. This museum possesses very important documents and valuable relics of the military history of the famous Black Sea Fleet.
On 14 September 1869 in the city of Sevastopol was opened a military history museum of the fleet in the house of one of the outstanding members of the Black Sea Fleet. Fleet Museum in the house of one of the prominent figures of the first defence of the city of Sevastopol - E.I. Totleben, who held the position of engineer general.
To create a museum in the city was established a special committee that collected voluntary donations. The chairman of this committee was the chief Lieutenant-General P.K. Menkov, editor-in-chief of the military newspaper "Russky Invalid". Besides In addition to him, the committee consisted of former participants of military actions in the Crimean War and those who had caught the idea of creating a museum.
The newspaper "Russky invalid" in a fairly short period of time collected a sum exceeding twelve thousand roubles. In the fund of the museum are still kept letters that came from different places of the Russian Empire, testimonies of the Russian invalid. different places of the Russian Empire, testifying to the desire of various people to give the museum the preserved trophies and unique relics of the times of the heroic defence of Sevastopol. defence of Sevastopol. These ordinary people with a great desire to contribute to the construction of the museum became the key to its success. construction of the museum, became the key to its success.
By 1913 in the available catalogue of the Sevastopol Military History Museum there were already more than two thousand exhibits. Here were the most valuable relics, that would have been the pride of any other museum in Russia. In 1905, when the city celebrated the 50th anniversary of the defence, a lot of materials came to the museum at no cost. When the civil war ended, the museum had new departments that covered the revolutionary period. departments that covered the revolutionary events that took place from 1905 to 1917. 1917. The main part of the museum's exposition at the beginning of the Patriotic War was taken to Baku. to Baku, and then transferred to Ulyanovsk. During the war years the collection continued replenished. Soldiers, defenders of the city, directly from the battlefields carried bloody documents pierced by bullets. bloody documents pierced by bullets to hand them over to the museum. After the heroic heroic battles liberated Sevastopol from fascist invaders, most of the exhibits were returned to the city.
While restoring the building of the historical museum, which was badly damaged, it was decided to move the exposition to the art gallery, located on Nakhimova Avenue. Nakhimova Avenue. On 15 August 1948, the restored museum opened its doors again to visitors.
Today museum exposition tells about the history of the Black Sea Fleet from the day of its foundation to the present day. from the day of its foundation to the present day. The museum has a unique collection of ancient and modern weapons, ship models, military uniforms, works of battle painting and old photographs. battle paintings and old photographs.
Seven halls of the museum are devoted to different stages of development and existence of the fleet. In the courtyard of the building there is an outdoor exposition of military equipment.
