The exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary History of Russia, prepared with the participation of the country's leading museums, tells the story of how, from the first days of the war, artists did their best to preserve the cultural heritage of the city on the Neva. The exhibition presents more than 350 items - both authentic (photographs, paintings, posters, books, posters, diaries, maps, documents, albums, awards, letters from the front, personal belongings) and in multimedia formats, including in the form of holograms.

During the siege of Leningrad, which lasted from September 8, 1941 to January 27, 1944, museum workers evacuated or hid in safe places the priceless treasures of Leningrad museums, artists and architects took part in camouflaging military and industrial facilities, as well as architectural monuments. Journalists, writers and artists helped to strengthen the fighting spirit of Leningraders, to unite them for joint resistance to the formidable enemy. Librarians, actors, musicians, composers gave people an opportunity to forget about deprivation for a while, to rest and gain strength. The great merit of cameramen, artists and writers in depicting the blockade everyday life and preserving the historical memory of this tragic, but at the same time heroic period of national history.

A significant part of the exhibition consists of graphic works by artists of the siege, who created a kind of artistic chronicle of the hardest time. For example, Alexander Black made daily sketches of everyday life in the besieged city. The artist captured the events of the first ten months of the war - in conditions of cold, hunger, continuous bombing. He drew on different colored sheets, and sometimes on pieces of wallpaper. The very titles of his works - "Air Raid", "Water Supply Froze", "Stolen Cards" (which was tantamount to a death sentence) - speak for themselves.

Dmitry Shostakovich's famous Seventh Symphony is forever part of the history of the blockade. The exposition presents the score of the symphony, the poster of the concert that took place in the Leningrad Philharmonic on August 9, 1942, the trombonist Vasily Yudin, who took part in it, as well as a model of the composer's office, his photographs, notes and personal memories. Some of the exhibits are dedicated to the work of the remarkable singer Klavdia Shulzhenko, who gave a concert on the stage of the Leningrad House of the Red Army on July 12, 1942. Thus, the exhibition will show the famous blue handkerchief, with which the singer performed in front of the soldiers, singing the song of the same name.

The atmosphere of the siege time is conveyed by tiny pieces of bread; a sugar bowl that stored precious rations; a temporary oven that kept the freezing residents warm; sledges used to transport food and belongings across the Neva ice; shell fragments picked up on the stairs of entrances; a pass for the right to pass through the night city.  The exhibition presents a model of a truck - the legendary "half-truck" GAZ-AA, which became one of the symbols of besieged Leningrad. It carried food and fuel to the city along the Road of Life across the frozen Ladoga Lake.

Visitors will be able to see how Leningraders' ration cards looked like, and how the norms of bread distribution decreased day by day. Personal diaries and albums of the city residents will tell what they thought about and how they found the strength to fight for life.

The creative work of cultural figures of besieged Leningrad became one of the brightest pages in the history of the blockade.

The exhibition will be held in three Russian cities: Moscow, Kaliningrad and Ryazan. The exhibition will include guided tours, lectures and other educational events.

Guided tours

We invite you to join the guided tours around the exhibition as a part of a group. On excursion you will learn how in the city on Neva masked monuments of architecture, employees of museums evacuated unique exhibits, and musicians, artists, radio workers helped to strengthen the morale of the inhabitants of Leningrad. Schedule of sessions: Tuesday - Sunday, 16.00.

You can make an appointment for a tour of the exhibition by calling the Museum's tour desk: +7 (495) 699-67-24

Workshops

The Museum of Modern History of Russia invites students of grades 1-5 to a museum-educational program on the exhibition "Muses of the Unconquered City", dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the complete liberation of Leningrad from the Nazi blockade. The program will end with a master class "Blockade Swallow. I am waiting for a letter", where the children will make a swallow, which became a symbol of hope and faith in besieged Leningrad. The swallow is made of black paper in origami technique, decorated with wooden beads. It is made as a pendant.

Duration of the program: 45 minutes. You can sign up for the museum-educational program by phone of the Museum's excursion bureau: +7 (495) 699-67-24.

Benefits

Visitors belonging to privileged categories (children under 16 years old, students, pensioners, disabled people, large families, veterans of the Great Patriotic War, persons awarded with the medal "For the Defense of Leningrad" or the sign "Resident of the Siege of Leningrad", participants of the World War II and members of their families, heroes of the Russian Federation) can get a free ticket at the museum ticket office.

In case of purchasing a free or discounted ticket, visitors are obliged to show a document confirming the right to a benefit at the control.

Project organizers

• Presidential Foundation for Cultural Initiatives
• Russian Historical Society
• Autonomous non-profit organization of additional education "Center for Public Enlightenment"

Project partners

• State Central Museum of Contemporary History of Russia
• Kaliningrad Regional Historical and Art Museum
• Ryazan Historical and Architectural Museum-Reserve
• State Memorial Museum of Defense and Siege of Leningrad
• State Museum of the History of St. Petersburg
• Russian National Museum of Music
• V.I. Dahl State Museum of the History of Russian Literature

Project participants

• Russia Today International News Agency
• State Museum of Political History of Russia
• St. Petersburg State Museum of Theater and Musical Art
• State Hermitage Museum
• A. Bakhrushin State Central Theater Museum
• V. Shchusev State Research Museum of Architecture
• Russian State Archive of Social and Political History
• Russian State Archive of Literature and Art
• Russian State Archive of Film and Photo Documents
• Central State Archive of Literature and Art of St. Petersburg
• St. Petersburg Academic Philharmonic Society named after D. D. Shostakovich. D. D. Shostakovich
• State Academic Mariinsky Theater
• The State Film Fund of the Russian Federation