Virtual tour of the besieged museum “And the Muses were not silent...” presented on the Presidential Library’s portal

The Presidential Library’s portal features a virtual tour of the museum "And the Muses were not silent...". This is a unique museum that is dedicated to the culture and art of Leningrad during the Great Patriotic War. It was established by the forces of teachers and pupils of the Dmitry Shostakovich school № 235. The uniqueness of the museum is that it has grown into a serious and world-famous research center.

The name of the museum is “And the Muses were not silent...”, which refutes the ancient Roman proverb: “When the guns say, the muses are silent” was created by the soloist of the St. Petersburg Musical Comedy Theater Anatoly Korolkevich.

The constantly growing exposition illustrates the cultural life of the besieged city, the tragic fate of Leningrad residents, about the path to spirituality through books, music or theater. The museum presents authentic materials of the besieged time associated with theatrical productions, art exhibitions, the work of libraries and cinemas. Among them are posters, travel schedules of front propaganda brigades, books published in 1941-1944, scripts and scores, which were used during the siege. The museum provides personal things of Olga Bergholz, K. I. Eliasberg, Dmitry Shostakovich and many other prominent Leningrad residents.

The Presidential Library provides a virtual tour of the museum “And the Muses were not silent...”, which is available for free download and can be used as part of educational events. The project, accompanied by the head of the museum “And the Muses were not silent...” Olga Prutt allows visiting the exhibition halls and discovering new heroic pages in the history of our city.

The Presidential Library’s portal is also featuring other besieged expositions such as The Kobona: Road of Life Museum and the State Memorial Museum of Defence and Siege of Leningrad. In addition, it is possible to carry out a virtual tour of the exhibition “Materialized Memory: Defence and Siege of Leningrad in Museum Expositions. Marking the 75th anniversary of the Complete Liberation of Leningrad from the Nazi Siege”, which was available from January 24 to May 13, 2019 in the building of the Synod on the Senate Square, 3.