Central Military History Museum of the Artillery, Engineer Troops, and

Central Military History Museum of the Artillery, Engineer Troops, and Signal Corps 

a museum in Leningrad, at 7 Lenin Park. It was founded in 1756 on an order of Empress Elizaveta Petrovna (prompted by a proposal from P. I. Shuvalov) to the Chancellery of the Central Artillery and Fortifications concerning the collection of weapons and historical artifacts and the creation of a depository for them at the New Cannon Yard in St. Petersburg. In 1775 the depository was transferred to the Main Arsenal on Liteinyi Prospect and named Memorial Hall. In 1868 it was transferred to the building of the Kronwerk Arsenal of Peter and Paul Fortress and renamed the Artillery Museum; it was renamed the Artillery History Museum in 1903. The military historian Lieutenant General N. E. Brandenburg, who headed the museum from 1872 to 1903, was instrumental in securing additions to the collection and contributed scholarly descriptions of the exhibits.

The Artillery History Museum was merged with the Central History Museum of the Engineer Troops in 1963, and a division of the history of the signal corps was established in 1965. The museum is a scientific research and educational institution and the central depository of examples of infantry, artillery, and rocket armaments; engineer and signal corps equipment; models, banners, orders, medals, battle paintings and sketches, and sculptures; and war artifacts, uniforms, ammunition, and war memorial articles from ancient times to the present. The museum has approximately 230,500 exhibits and 212,000 archival documents; there is a specialized library with more than 79,000 volumes. The museum publishes scholarly works, catalogs, and guides.

REFERENCE

Voenno-istoricheskii muzei artillerii, inzhenernykh voisk i voisk sviazi: Kratkii putevoditel’, 6th ed., Leningrad, 1968.

Z. V. ROZENBETSKAIA