The Mikhaylovka casemate artillery unit was built in the north of Sevastopol Bay. This construction has survived the Crimean War and the WWII. Recently it was turned into a museum.
The unit had been built since 1843 to 1846. Its ourdoor walls are 1.8 meters thick. After the Crimean War it was a storage and in 1920 it was used as a training unit for artillerymen. During the WWII it was used as a strong point again.
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As the time went by, the unit kept going to ruin. It could have collapsed if it were not for some collectors who turned it into a museum in 2010.
When the reconstruction began, local people from sheer habit decided that they were going to make a casino or a hotel out of it.
The street exposition is not very impressive yet, because it seems to consist of the remains of the neighbouring colleges: several training guns, a tank ‘in section’, and a couple of Yaks (Yak-28 and Yak-38).
The museum is what is really impressive!
The museum is situated on the upper floor because the ground is being excavated right now because some remains of the soldiers, who died in 1942 defending Sevastopol, are said to be there.
They try to make the museum look as true-to-life as possible: walls, floor, lamps…
The museum has a great collection of photos, engravings and lithographs.
Sevastopol.
An old map.
A lithograph showing barracks where now a branch of the Moscow State University is situated (in one of the buildings).
Balaklavskaya Bay. Now at this place you can find an embarkment, a parking lot, and a marine.
The Battle of Alma.
Field engineers.
A scene of some battle.
Sevastopol siege.
The black ‘barrels’ are reconstructed heating stoves.
Passing the halls by one by one, you like ‘live’ through the events of that time from the Crimean War till the WWII.
A mini panorama of the Battle of Balaklava. Over 500 mini soldiers are fighting on a 2,5 x 2.5 m. field.
English heavy machinegun of 1917.
Austria-Hungary heavy machinegun.
A Russian heavy machinegun ‘Maxim’ looks not that impressive but has a bigger range and rate of fire. It is also twice as heavy (72 kilos).
