The Heroic Defense of Sevastopol 1941-1942. Interactive Museum

An armed forces veteran and a submariner, the native Sevastopol citizen Vladimir Alexandrovich Semenov came up with the idea of creating such a museum. The fact is that there is still no museum in the hero city of Sevastopol that is dedicated to the defense, for which it received its high rank. The museums exist in the certain areas, but there is no museum dedicated to defense in general.

To fill this absurd gap in, the idea arose to create such a museum in the coastal squadron No. 11 casemates, where the Black Sea Fleet coastal defense command posts and the coastal army headquarters were located in 1941-42, in order to save this historical monument, which at that time was deeply forgotten, littered, and mutilated.

A public organization was created, which achieved the right to protect and equip the object of cultural heritage. Then, by joint efforts, the concept of a future exhibition was developed. At present, the museum has four interactive halls: a Front Line Hall, where you can familiarize yourself with artifacts found at the battlefields in Sevastopol and take the course of a young soldier: try on ammunition and equipment from WWII; a Hospital and Hostel Hall, which shows the ordinary city residents’ lives during the defense; an Underground School Hall, where you can conduct a lesson in courage, immersing yourself in the conditions the schoolchildren of those years studied in. The first visitors to the museum were the schoolchildren, students, librarians, and veterans.

On the holidays associated with the Second World War, military-patriotic events and open-door days are regularly held.