Russians Relive WWII Experience in Life-Size Exhibition in St. Petersburg
Hundreds of people queued in St. Petersburg over the weekend to visit the newly opened "Memory Speaks" panorama exhibition at Sevcabel Port.
The immersive exhibition recreates the path of an unnamed schoolteacher who goes to the front, taking visitors through a dozen scenes — from his wooden cabin in Belarus to trenches outside Leningrad, street battles in Stalingrad and the Dnieper River.
The state-funded exhibition is the latest commemoration of what Russia calls the Great Patriotic War against Nazi Germany. Next year, Russia will celebrate the 75th anniversary since the end of the war.
The exhibition is expected to run through May 2020.
The immersive exhibition recreates the path of an unnamed schoolteacher who goes to the front, taking visitors through a dozen scenes — from his wooden cabin in Belarus to trenches outside Leningrad, street battles in Stalingrad and the Dnieper River.
The state-funded exhibition is the latest commemoration of what Russia calls the Great Patriotic War against Nazi Germany. Next year, Russia will celebrate the 75th anniversary since the end of the war.
The exhibition is expected to run through May 2020.
"Memory Speaks" features several dramatic scenes from the war, including this one of a refugee fleeing east with her possessions to escape the German invasion. Millions of Soviet citizens were evacuated eastward after the German invasion on June 22, 1941.
Daniel Kozin / MT
Visitors can walk anywhere in the connected spaces of the exhibition, including trenches and ruined buildings.
Daniel Kozin / MT
The panorama features war memorabilia found by volunteers at battle sites across the former Soviet Union, as well as life-size replicas of tanks, warplanes and artillery.
Daniel Kozin / MT
The scenes are recreated based on archival materials and interviews with survivors. This mountain battle took place in the snowy North Caucasus.
Daniel Kozin / MT
Dozens of characters were created for the exhibition, many of them based on real participants such as this young woman from Siberia.
Daniel Kozin / MT
A T-34 tank being fitted at a makeshift arms factory in Tula.
Daniel Kozin / MT
Many Soviet citizens idealized the figure of Josef Stalin during the war in "red corners" like this one, according to organizers.
Daniel Kozin / MT
A scene of a firefight raging at a chess school during the battle for Stalingrad.
Daniel Kozin / MT
The scenes are recreated with a film set-like precision, including this two-story building on a war-torn street in Europe after Germany's surrender.
Daniel Kozin / MT
Soviet war correspondent Yevgeny Khaldei setting up his iconic photograph of a soldier raising a Soviet flag over the Reichstag in Berlin.
Daniel Kozin / MT
