The Museum of Shipbuilding and Fleet

The Museum of Shipbuilding and Fleet (Russian: Музей судостроения и флота), the only Museum of Shipbuilding and Fleet in Ukraine, is sittuated in Mykolaiv, also known as Nikolayev (from Russian language), Ukraine.

History of the museum

The Museum of Shipbuilding and Fleet
Established 1978
Location Ukraine, Mykolaiv

Ancient House, where museum is situated, is a monument of history and architecture of the late 18th - early 19th century. Built in the style of the ancient Russian classicism, it served as chancery and premises of the main commanders of the Black Sea Fleet during the 1794-1900gg. In due time such admirals as M. S. Mordvinov, I. De Traverse, A. S. Greig, M. P. Lazarev, G. I. Butakov, M. A. Arcas lived and worked here.

Exhibitions

The museum exhibition is located in twelve rooms and numbers nearly three thousand exhibits. Exhibits in the first hall depicts antiquity and time of the Kievan Rus, describes the beginning of navigation through the Dnipro and Southern Bug rivers, the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. There are pictures of ancient Greek ships, illustrations of a deserved painter V. Bahtov to the "Histories" of Herodotus, archeological finds of antique Olbia, fragments of stony anchors. Exhibits which are devoted to the fleet history of Zaporizhian Cossacks, their heroic combat for the access to the Black Sea rouse a great interest. The pearl of the museum is the diorama "Building the ships on the Mykolaiv Admiralty in the first quarter of the 19th century" by V. Semernev. In the hall of the Crimean War (1853-1856) the authentic relics of the past are located: the naval flag of St. Andrew, ship cannons, awards and documents of seamen and veterans of war.

The bust of sailor Ignat Shevchenko (sculptor G. Kovalchuk), who performed a heroic deed during the defense of Sevastopol, also attracts the attention of visitors. The Crimean War was a milestone in the transition from sailing ships to steam crustacea. In the museum exhibited the model of the first tubular vessel in the Black Sea which is called "Novgorod", launched to the water by Nikolaev Admiralty in 1873 as well as a portrait of the author's draft of the ship, the famous engineer and shipbuilder A. O. Popov.

And on the court, under the expanse of the sky, exposed the guns from the Black Sea Fleet, covered with glory of combat feats. The best tradition continued in the post-war works of the masters of the ship's business and sailors of the Black Sea. The hall exhibits items of ship's equipment, fragments of shells of ships, maritime communications devices and collection of ship tableware. Exhibit section "modern civilian fleet. The end of the 1940–1990s." tells about the activities of Europe's largest Black Sea Shipyard, one of the oldest companies in the south of Ukraine -Shipyard named after 61 Communards, and the youngest in the Nikolayev shipyard "Okean".

References

Coordinates: 46°58′41″N 31°59′10″E / 46.97806°N 31.98611°E