Museum-memorial complex "History of the T-34 tank"

Moscow Oblast
Dmitrovskoe highway., 89A, Sholokhovo, Moscow region, 141052
Phones: +7 (495) 577-71-94, +7 (495) 577-74-01
Web site: museum-t-34.ru

The museum displays exhibits from the personal archives of Larisa Vasilyeva, the widow of Marshal of the Armored Forces M. Katukov, the daughter of the T-34 tank designer M. Koshkin, the famous tank historian I. Zheltov, and veterans of the Great Patriotic War and military leaders. Visitors can trace back the process of the creation of the tank and its unique engine, as well as learn more about the people who worked on this unique machine and were kept secret for many years. Previously unknown and now-documented facts about the T-34 are presented. The museum provides detailed information about the strategic role of the T-34 in the battle of Moscow, as well as tracing the "genealogy" of the famous tank and its modifications. For the first time, the “ancestors” of the T-34 (the BT-2, BT-5, BT-7 and BT-7M tanks) as well as the specific work of their creators is revealed. Visitors can see the comparative characteristics of medium tanks from different countries. The museum contains numerous statements about this tank and its role in the Great Patriotic War. Visitors will learn the history of the heroic deeds of the tankers. The exposition is located not only in the building, but also in an open area, where you can see eight real tanks and a self-propelled artillery unit.

It is no coincidence that the museum-memorial complex "History of the T-34 tank" is located on kilometer 36 of the Dmitrovskoye highway near Moscow. It is the region where the inventor Vasily Mendeleev, the son of the great chemist Dmitry Mendeleev, lived and worked on the design of the super-heavy tank. In addition, the first Russian heavy tank, developed by Nikolai Lebedenko, was tested near the town of Dmitrov. And in December 1941, T-34 tanks launched a counter offensive from this frontier, which was closest to Moscow. The main phase of the battle for Moscow began. After the Great Patriotic War, famous tankers and tank builders lived in a dacha village located nearby. In 1976, at the bedside of dying father, one of the designers of the T-34 tank Nikolai Kucherenko, his daughter, the writer Larisa Vasilyeva, promised him that she would publish a book on the creation of the legendary combat vehicle. The result of persistent searches and numerous meetings with tank builders and tank crews was the novel and memoir A Book about Father. The response to the publication was literally bags of letters, in which readers, involved in the T-34 tank in one way or another, shared with Vasilyeva facts and memories of the military history of the legendary vehicles. She was sent photographs and archival documents. A famous Russian writer and director of the Pushkin Museum-Reserve “Mikhailovskoye”, Semyon Geychenko, advised that she open a museum. At first, he suggested that she make an exhibition at her own dacha to start off with. In 1985, the informal museum welcomed its first visitors. At the Vasilyeva’s dacha, so many visitors gathered on those 26 square meters that they almost broke the wooden floor! The museum quickly gained fame, not only in Russia but also abroad. Larisa Vasilyeva began to receive more and more letters, wrappers and parcels which contained important exhibits. The collection turned out to be so extensive and unique that it became necessary to grant the museum official status. The Mayor of Moscow and the Governor of the Moscow Region supported this idea. In 2001, on the 60th anniversary of the start of the Soviet counter offensive near Moscow, the new museum on the Dmitrovskoe highway was opened to visitors. Numerous organizations, institutions and enterprises from different cities and towns of Russia and even Ukraine, as well as the Main Automotive-Armoured Tank Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, took part in the creation of the initial display. The museum immediately gained huge popularity and has not lost it to this day.

This is the first museum to show the "geography" of the T-34 tank that fought on different continents, in different countries of the world. It is possible to book onto a sightseeing tour entitled "Walk in the tank park". Visitors are advised that it is noticeably windy in the complex, so they should dress warmly. At temperatures below -40 ° C, tours are not conducted. In the open area, children have the opportunity to sit behind the levers of the tank. The Tank Museum has become a venue for official military, historical and memorial events of the Moscow Government and the Moscow Region Government. It is regularly visited by members of the diplomatic corps, foreign delegations, students and schoolchildren from different regions of Russia and abroad.