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Yevgeny Korchagin
Head of Central Naval Museum 
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   This year marks the tricentennial of the Russian regular naval forces. 
Three hundred years have elapsed. Each century and every passing year have 
opened a new page in the history of the Russian Navy.
     Where should one go today to gain an idea about the evolution of the 
Russian Navy? The Central Naval Museum is the only place for people 
interested in learning about Russia's naval history. The museum dates back to 
Peter the Great's written instruction for Admiralty official A. Kikin to set 
up a ship-model house. The letter of instruction required that drawings and 
mockups of ships constructed at Russian yards should be collected and stored.
     By the summer of 1709, a ship-model house was erected right in front of 
the Admiralty building, where a fountain can be found today. It was actually 
a cottage built from daub and wattle. It marks the origins of the Central 
Naval Museum. It is merely six years younger than Saint Petersburg and twelve 
years younger than the Russian Navy.
     Regulations passed as early as 1722 prescribed: "As each ship is laid 
down, a scale mockup shall be put on a plank and then handed over together 
with the drawings to the Admiralty Collegium upon the launching of the ship". 
In this way the collecting pursuit of the ship-model house was legitimized, 
with the original collection shortly transferred to the Admiralty building. 
Naval battle trophies were also brought in. Battle colors, ensigns and 
pennants from the defeated Swedish warships were displayed in the Admiralty's 
banners room.
     In April 1805, the ship-model house was elevated in status to become the 
Naval Museum. The ruling was welcomed by the sailors. As they returned from 
their long-duration or round-the-world voyages, the seamen would always bring 
assorted artifacts of interest for the museum. It was considered as honored 
tradition.
     The museum also began to receive paintings, drawings, commemorative 
medallions and small arms. A collection was made of celestial navigation 
instruments.
     The museum had an in-house drawing and modeling workshop. It also 
operated a large scientific library that was constantly enriched with books 
released at home and in foreign lands. The museum had grown into a Russian 
primary scientific center where the nation's best naval officers could often 
be found working.
     The museum collection was considerably enlarged at the close of the 19th 
century. Naval families contributed to the museum long-held historical 
relics. Numerous materials were brought by Russian sailors returning from 
long sea voyages. More paintings were acquired.
     In 1909, Russia grandly celebrated the bicentennial of the Emperor Peter 
the Great Naval Museum, as the museum was then known. The jubilee coincided 
with a large-scale patriotic public drive to rebuild the Russian Navy, 
following the Russian-Japanese war, as well as spirited propaganda of past 
heroic exploits and warfighting traditions so excellently treasured by the 
museum. To mark the event, a book on the museum's history then was published.
     In August 1939, a decision was taken to move the museum to the former 
stock exchange building designed by Thomas de Tamone and erected in 
1804-1810.
     In 1810, in front of the building two monumental rostral columns were 
raised on the crescent, with granite-paved slopes leading to the water's 
edge, serving as beacons for ships cruising into the harbor of the old days. 
Two huge figures were seated on each of the column pedestals hewn from stone 
to collectively represent the four great Russian rivers: Volga, Dnieper, Neva 
and Volkhov. Like the Russian Navy, the museum has a great history of almost 
three centuries, lasting from the ship-model house to one of the world's 
largest naval museums?truly the treasure house of Russia's naval glory. This 
is the story of the Central Naval Museum.
     Today, the Central Naval Museum maintains disparate and huge collections 
estimated at over 600,000 artifacts and documents. They comprise 2,042 ship 
models, including the nationally-prized relic?Peter the Great's boat that 
marks the beginning of the domestic fleet.
     Peter the Great used that boat on the Yauza River in Moscow to hone his 
sailing skills. In 1723, the boat, dubbed "grandfather of the Russian fleet", 
was brought to Saint Petersburg for careful storage. The museum's ship-model 
collection includes a multitude of vessels from a Maltese Order galley built 
in 1568 and owned by Magistrate of the Order La Valetta all the way through 
contemporary nuclear-powered warships. The museum keeps a dugout hollowed out 
of a 360-year-old oak log more than 1,000 years B.C.
     Considerable interest is paid to the museum's prized model of the British 
100-gun warship Royal Sovereign constructed in 1695 and presented to Peter 
the Great by British King William the Third.
     The domestic vessels are fully represented by a broad range of models, 
with some pieces hewn from ivory and rare woods to make genuine works of art. 
The museum has retained since the first years of this century a unique 
collection of ship models hewn from tortoise-shell. All of them were created 
in Japan at the turn of the 20th century by the Nagasaki-based Emiro Ezaki 
firm. Unfortunately, the Japanese workshop was destroyed by the 1945 nuclear 
bombing. The expertise of crafting such models has never been regenerated.
     The oldest and most precious Russian ship model is the 30-gun frigate 
built by Peter the Great on his return from the Netherlands in 1698.
     The museum owns a collection of sea navigation instruments, equipment and 
weapons, numbering in total 8,300 articles reflecting different seafaring 
eras.
     The museum also maintains a large collection of authentic documents on 
the Russian Navy of the 18-19th centuries. Museum collections also include 
the most unusual shipbuilding artifacts?ship-laying and ground-braking 
commemorative plaques deeply rooted in history. As in the old days, today's 
ship-laying ceremony includes a procedure whereby a plaque is normally placed 
in or attached to the middle of the keel?the ship's principal section, with 
the moment considered as the beginning of the ship's construction effort and 
always celebrated. Most of the museum's ship-laying plaques are replicas of 
those carried by the ships in their keels. Interestingly, both the original 
and replicated plaques were fabricated from precious metals by the best 
craftsmen. To provide an example, at the Paris and London international shows 
(1993-1994) we displayed the cruiser Ryurik and armor-belted destroyer 
Tsesarevich ship-laying plaques fabricated from silver by Faberge craftsmen.
     The museum has plaques of nearly all classes of ships. The most 
invaluable exhibits are represented by plaques of the warships that 
distinguished themselves most throughout the Russian Navy's history: the 
armor-belted cruiser Pyotr Veliky, cruiser Ryurik, destroyer Novik, gunboat 
Koreyets, and warships of WWII era: the leader Minsk, minelayer Marti, 
destroyer Nezamozhnik and other vessels.
     Museum rooms are embellished by ship ensigns and battle colors of naval 
units and formations. The collection includes 2,613 ship ensigns and over 400 
battle colors of domestic naval units, as well as flags from enemy ships 
defeated in numerous naval battles.
     Visitors are invariably drawn by the unusually large flag (measuring 4.6 
by 4.3 m) suspended high under the main room's ceiling. This is the "Flag of 
the Czar of Moskovy", with a tricolor (white-blue-red) cloth featuring an 
embroidered double-headed eagle. Under that flag, Peter the Great sailed into 
the White Sea in 1693. In the same year the flag was presented to Archbishop 
Afanassy, who kept it in his cathedral in the city of Arkhangelsk. In 1910 it 
was moved to the Naval Museum in St. Petersburg.
     One of the most treasured relics of the Russian Navy is carefully 
preserved the St. George Flag from the battleship Azov that was the first 
warship to receive that high award. Captained by M. Lazarev, the battleship 
covered itself with glory October 8, 1827 in the Navarin battle. The 
dedicated script of December 12, 1827 read: "The battleship Azov shall be 
awarded the St. George Flag and Pennant to honor the superb deeds of 
commanders, the courage and intrepidity of officers and the bravery of 
sailors". It is the museum's largest flag measuring 14.5 by 9.5 m.
     The impressive collection of trophy flags clearly speaks for the valor 
and heroism of Russian sailors, with naval flags, battle colors and ensigns 
reflecting events from the Russian-Japanese war, Civil War and WWII.
     The museum's armory holds nearly 10,000 firearms and cold steel weapons. 
The art collection includes about 2,000 paintings, over 4,000 engravings and 
drawings, as well as 821 sculptures. It represents the nation's largest 
collection of paintings dedicated to the history of Russia's Navy, including 
at-sea battle scenes, seascapes, portraits of distinguished seafarers and 
fleet admirals. These works of art include great paintings by I. Aivazovsky, 
A. Bogolyubov, A. Beggrov, N. Krasovsky, L. Lagorio and rare sculptures by M. 
Antokolsky, N. Pimenov, P. Klodt and others.
     The museum also boasts an extensive collection of military decorations, 
medals and medallions, uniforms, documents, manuscripts and films.
     Visitors display considerable interest in the collection of utility 
articles, including snuff-boxes, cigarette-cases, wine-bowls, cups and wine 
glasses made from precious metals, jewelry and souvenir gifts normally 
displayed in the officer's wardrooms. The museum personnel carefully store, 
study and display whatever was owned by Russian sailors and do their best to 
preserve memories of the seamen's courage, heroism and dedication to their 
military duty.
     In the year of the Russian Navy's tricentennial, the Central Naval Museum 
is in the focus of public attention. We receive requests for topical 
exhibitions and disparate reference materials from Russia and abroad. This 
year we plan to conduct dedicated exhibitions in Moscow, St. Petersburg, 
Tyumen, Kaliningrad, Pskov, Vyborg, Helsinki and Turku (Finland), Halle 
(Germany) and Greece.
     The museum continues to receive large numbers of new artifacts from 
different parts of Russia and abroad. We have been maintaining close links 
with the Union of Museum Workers of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region, 
Russian Committee of the International Congress of Museums (ICOM), 
International Congress of Naval Museums (ICNM) and other public 
organizations. The museum is run by a highly-experienced and totally 
dedicated staff who have brought fame. These enthusiasts continue to work 
untiringly to preserve the Russian Navy's history in the form of artifacts 
and documents for generations to come.
     As long as the museum retains such people, it will survive despite current hardships.




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