“The Object ‘Pavilion’”: The re-exposure in the bunker in Smolny in honor of the 75th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of the updated museum exposition entitled “The Object ‘Pavilion’”, implemented in a bomb shelter under the building of the St. Petersburg administration for the anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War, by May 9, 2020. The authors study history of The Smolny Museum, as well as its current expositions and memorial spaces available for visitors within the walls of the government building: the exposition “From the history of women’s education in Russia. Smolny Institute for Noble Maidens” and “December, 1. Shot in Smolny”; V. I. Lenin’s study and the room in which he lived with his wife, N. K. Krupskaya; The white-column assembly hall, where in the fall of 1917 the II All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers ‘and Soldiers’ Deputies was held. The period of the war and the siege of Leningrad (1941–1944) occupies an important place in the museum’s theme. One of the most attractive memorial spaces of the museum is the underground bunker located under the territory of the Smolny garden, museumified in 2019. The article describes the technical parameters of the underground structure and considers its history, studies and compares two versions of the bomb shelter exposition (“Bunker A. A. Zhdanov”, 2019 and “The Object ‘Pavilion’”, 2020). The updated exposition is distinguished by a significant expansion of the exposition space, an emphasis on demonstrating the previously hidden functional premises of the bunker (dining room, disinfection room, rest room, etc.), a more detailed display of the historical events of the blockade related to the management of the city and the front, the introduction of multimedia technologies. The article is based on the historical sources of the museum origin.