The all-Russian event “Museum Regiment”, which aims to preserve the memory of heroic efforts of museum staff during the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945 and their contribution to victory, will bring together more than 100 exhibition venues across Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent states.
Yulia Kupina, Director of the Russian Museum of Ethnography, said that the project was initiated by museum staff in 2024.
“It was not a top-down decision. It came from the staff themselves, who for many years have been going through storage rooms, collecting photographs related to the siege, to museum employees who took part in the fighting, to home-front workers and those who rebuilt the museum. <…> In St Petersburg, there are various monuments and events dedicated to war correspondents, military doctors, signalmen and many other professionals. But museum staff had never been represented in such a focused way,” she explained.
Yulia Kupina noted that new regions, large federal and small municipal museums are joining the event. “Let me tell you a small story that shows the emotional intensity of the event. Last year, Kyrgyz Museum of Nomads Culture joined the event. It turned out that the father of that museum’s director fought on Leningrad’s front and defended Leningrad during the Great Patriotic War. This is the heartbeat of our unity – the unity of the peoples who inhabit the Russian space. Indeed, people of very different nationalities, through their professional efforts, saved the county’s cultural heritage,” she said, adding that the event is taking place during the Year of Unity of the Peoples of Russia.
According to her, museum spaces are always “on the front lines”. Through the lens of museums, country’s history is visible not only in its factual, historical aspect, but also in its emotional dimension. “The event has gained momentum and grown into a large international movement. Today it starts at the Russian Museum of Ethnography and will run until May 10. We are not imposing restrictions or dictating the format of participation. What matters to us is that people simply join the event and declare that they are taking part in it,” the director emphasized.