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Anniversary of the opening of the State Military and Historical Museum-Reserve “Borodino Field” in Mozhaisk District, Moscow Region
11 (24) February 1903, in the premises of the railway station Borodino took place a grand opening of the Museum-Reserve "Borodino Field" - the memorial of two Patriotic Wars, the oldest museum in the world created on battlefields. Back in 1812 Mikhail Kutuzov urged to preserved field fortifications made by the Russian army, "Even later let them be for the Russians the sacred monuments of their courage: let our descendants, looking at them, to ignite the fire of competition and speak with admiration: here is the place where predators’ pride fell victim to fearlessness sons of the Fatherland."
At the Semenov fleches, where was killed Brigadier General Alexander Tuchkov 4th, his wife Margaret M. Tuchkov decided to build a temple. The Emperor Alexander I donated 10,000 rubles to its construction. August 26 (September 7), 1820, the anniversary of the Battle of Borodino, the temple-tomb in the name of the Divine Savior with a symbolic grave of General Alexander Tuchkov was consecrated. In 1838, the Holy Monastery of Borodino was approved. In 1839, in the center of the Russian position, at the battery of Raevsky, was erected the main monument, depicting the military glory of Russia. Here were reburied the remains of the Borodino’s hero, Infantry General Pyotr Bagration, the commander of the 2nd Western army, mortally wounded on the day of the battle. In 1912, the centenary of the Battle of Borodino, 34 more monuments were built and Russian fortifications restored: Maslovsky flushes, Shevardinsky redoubt and southern (left) Bagration fleche. Command posts of Kutuzov and Napoleon were marked with special monuments.
The first curators of the Borodino field were veterans of 1812. After 27 years after the battle, they settled in a stone hut near the battery of Raevsky. In a small building, which became a prototype of the future of the museum, hung old plans and maps, were kept cannon-balls and case-shots from the battlefield. There was a special record book to register visitors.
At the beginning of the 20th century, due to the approaching centenary of the Patriotic War, the work on the museum continued. And 11 (24) February, 1903, was held its grand opening. The initiators of the museum were employees of the railway station under the leadership of its chief P. Bogdanovich, who donated to the exhibition his collection of weapons, personal belongings, portraits of the heroes of 1812, the findings in the field of Borodino. Today the museum collections contain photos depicting the interior of the room, which housed the first exposition. It featured old engravings, books, weapons, awards. The official opening of the museum was recorded in a special constituent document, making part of the museum collection. The record book for visitors contains autographs of descendants of veterans in the Patriotic War: of D. V. Davydov, the grandson of the famous partisan; D. P. Bagration and others, as well as of Russian historians, scientists and artists.
In 1912, in the middle of the field, on the site of the lodge was constructed a building designed by architect Vladimir Voeykov, which up to now housed the museum. Later there were transferred the exhibits previously held at the railway station of Borodino, in the Holy Monastery of Borodino, the Imperial Palace, which was built in the village of Borodino in 1839 and which burnt down in 1942. In 1962, in time to the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Borodino, the museum’s building was increased - three halls were attached to it.
In front of the Museum-Preserve "Borodino Field" are set Napoleon's army guns taken as trophies in 1812; as well as busts and sculpted portraits of famous military leaders, commanders of armies in 1812 - Mikhail Kutuzov, Pyotr Bagration and M. Barclay de Tolly.
Museum exhibition is presented chronologically. First, visitors see the exhibits that reveal a liberation nature of the war of 1812 and the actions of the two armies before the Battle of Borodino; then they proceed to the central rooms devoted to the Battle of Borodino, and at the end, there are the materials on the victory of the Russian army in 1812 and the defeat of the Nazis near Moscow in 1941-1942.
In the halls of the museum there are paintings depicting the course of the war and of the Battle of Borodino, military leaders portraits, uniforms of different combat arms of the first quarter of the 19th century, military weapons of the time. One of the most valuable pieces was a carriage, in which an elderly commander in chief traveled along Russian bumpy roads through Novgorod and Smolensk to Torzhok, to the retreating troops, and then arrived to the field of Borodino. Manufactured in 1811 in St. Petersburg at the personal request of Kutuzov, the carriage was kept in the village of Mocha, near Moscow, in the estate of the commander's daughter P. M. Tolstaya. In the early 20th century, Kutuzov's grandson delivered it to Fily, where Kutuzov’s hut was located, and in the 1920s the carriage entered the Borodino Museum. Now it occupies one of the places of honor at the exposition. The exhibits of the museum’s last hall tell of the hard, terrible days of the Battle of Moscow in Mozhaisk sector during the Great Patriotic War.
During the defense of Moscow in 1941-1942, the exhibits were evacuated in time to the city of Alma-Ata, and the building of the museum, where the Germans arranged a slaughterhouse, was burned during their retreat in January 1942. In 1944, the building was repaired, and it housed again the relics of 1812.
In 1961, on the eve of the 150th anniversary of the Patriotic War of 1812, by the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation the Borodino Field was declared a museum-reserve "including memorial sites, historical monuments of the field of Borodino and the State Borodino War and History Museum."
In 2002, the 190th anniversary of the Battle of Borodino at the museum opened a new major exhibition "Borodino - Battle of the Giants." On the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Borodino was recreated the imperial estate in the village of Borodino. In 2007, the Museum "Borodino Field" was the first Russian museum to be awarded the International UNESCO Prize n. a. Melina Mercouri for the Safeguarding and Management of Cultural Landscapes.
Lit.: Бородино: материалы науч. конф. «Отечеств. война 1812 г. Источники. Памятники. Пробл.». 1993 г. Бородино, 1994. С. 77-83; Памятники Отечества: альманах. № 47. «Славься ввек, Бородино!». М., 2000.
Государственный Бородинский военно-исторический музей-заповедник: сайт. 2008-2013 URL: http://www.borodino.ru/index.php.
Based on the Presidential Library’s materials: