At St. Petersburg, a new museum - Museum of the Tin Army. Such a museum is the only one in Russia. This museum is a branch of the AV Museum. Suvorov and located in the former home of the museum inspector, on the street Kirochnaya, near the Chernyshevskaya metro station.
The museum is quite small and consists of 5 spaces. In all rooms only lighting, so the photos turned out to be substandard, I apologize in advance. I have to take photos from the Internet (but not all).
By the way, tickets cost 400 rubles.For beneficiaries and children 200 rubles. Visit the museum just by sightseeing. I am lucky. I was the only excursion, so the tour was exclusive to me. At this point I was happy to ask my guide many questions that he only had time to answer and was very surprised by my interest. Usually people just walk, as if for a tick. And we have the entire dialogue changed. It's just that I have such an approach, if I go to a museum or exhibition, I will definitely be ready, I read. What's the point of walking stupidly to check in.
The first room called "Suvorov" hosted a great layout "Suvorov Crossing Alps" in 1799, created by the famous Russian artist-engraver Vladimir Nuzhdin. Here are the four main events of this transition - the rise of St. Gotthard, the Demon Bridge attack, the battle at the Muten Valley, and the ascent to the Pass Panics. The layout takes up the whole wall and you can really consider all the details. Here you can feel yourself a participant on the way. The sounds and light that accompany the layout, make you listen very carefully.
The second room is dedicated to the history of the emergence of miniature tin. Special mechanics installed in the stands (such as cabinets) render the era in a hurry on the screen, a story about the emergence of miniature sounds, figures moving from the Ancient World to the First World War. Apparently, the first tin soldier was found accidentally at the bottom of the Thames. And the first tin production in Germany was established. They are only 22 mm tall, and installed - 32 mm, thin and flat. They were not painted, but fine needles clawed all the subtleties of uniform.
Beside the podium - the Master table, he is also the Collector's table. The video projection on the table shows how a piece of lead from the master's hand through the artist's hand, packing it into the hands of the collector. It turned out that his master just threw and poured tin, and then brought the women's and children's hands to the minds of the soldiers, because the soldiers then made the thickness flat and very small (like a piece of paper). Not only because their hands are softer and their fingers thinner, but they can also pay less.
Third hall for children. Theater puppets, multimedia technology, lighting and special mechanics, music and noise design - and here you see the famous fairytale characters G.-H. Andersen "Steadfast Tin Soldier". I think kids will enjoy listening and seeing stories, this hall will be their favorite.
In the fourth hall, mahogany display. Here the shelves were decorated like old libraries. Eight dioramas dedicated to the history of the Russian army. Here you can see old tin soldiers, silver soldiers (their faces blackened by time) made on the orders of kings, Soviet-era tin plastic soldiers, and a modern collection of copper alloys (they have yellow).
In the last, the fifth hall shows pride (due to word guide) of a new museum - a unique layout of the last parade of gvardii1914 Russian empire on Martius Campus. So fabulous. For 10 minutes before your eyes are the front parlor in all the clothes. Each regiment passes the parade, the sound of music, gunshot. Everything is moving. On top of the layout there are three screens, where you can see everything in size many times increasing. There was a live broadcast of the parade. On the monitor - close-up photos of passing regiments, accompanied by stories about the victory of the guards.
Even more surprising is that all the figures were made by the Russian master, Georgy Vladimirovich Ivanov, who for over thirty years in exile created this work (nearly 3000 numbers). G.V. Filshtinsky and his team "rekindled" the layout, forcing the regiment to march again - the tin soldiers moving on the parade ground.
In 2017, thanks to the patron of St. Petersburg M. Kh. Ezekov, who for an incredible amount (this is still a secret) bought all the numbers and detailed an parade of Guards and submit it to the museum. So the museum's collection was replenished with a unique reconstruction of the last parade of the Russian Imperial Guard in 1914 on the Champ de Mars, with a total of 2,564 soldiers.
The idea of creating a museum appeared around 1966, when the museum Suvorov donated to the collection of Alexander Lyubimov and Mikhail Lyushkovsky. In the late 1970s, a large traveling exhibition was made, which traveled to the Soviet Union. And already in the early 1990s it was decided to make a permanent exhibition.
Army toys are toys, and visual aids for military affairs studies, and museum exhibits that tell us about soldiers as an important part of culture. After the kings learned to fight with the help of the army, they created troops and reconstructed the battle. And then they became commander and ordered the real troops.
This museum does not have a website and history. It was opened only on May 30, 2018. My guide says that he is writing a book on the history of the appearance of soldiers. You see how lucky I am. Of course, I can not remember many interesting details and stories. After all, it's better to see it all and listen.