The exhibition project "The Great Victory. Russia is my story"

The historical and documentary exhibition project "The Great Victory. Russia is my story" was seen by 115,000 people from 25 countries and Russia. The exhibition, which opened on November 4 at the Manege Central Exhibition Hall at the XXI Orthodox Russia Church and Public Exhibition-Forum Dedicated to National Unity Day, has become the cultural event of the decade and the country's main project dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the Great Victory.

The Patriarchal Council for Culture of the Russian Orthodox Church, together with the Federal Archival Agency and the State Archive of the Russian Federation, implemented this unique exhibition project with 50 museums and archives in Russia and Belarus. The co—organizer of the exhibition is the historical parks "Russia — my History".

"This exhibition, which has completed the year of the 80th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War, is unprecedented. Such a volume of unique artifacts has never been collected. We have been holding an exhibition in the Manege for 12 years, but this one was special," said Tikhon (Shevkunov), Chairman of the Patriarchal Council for Culture, Metropolitan of Simferopol and Crimea.

On the first day of November 4, Russian President Vladimir Putin, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, together with Metropolitan Tikhon and Presidential Aide Vladimir Medinsky, Head of the Federal Archive Andrey Artizov and Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin visited the exhibition. In November, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Tatyana Golikova, Chairman of RIO Sergey Naryshkin, Head of the Presidential Office for Public Projects Sergey Novikov, and Minister of Education Sergey Kravtsov got acquainted with the exhibition.

And from the very first day, thousands of people rushed to the heart of the capital, to Manezhnaya Square, to pray at the icon of St. Luke (Voino—Yasenetsky) and venerate the ark with his holy relics, which has become a tradition at the Orthodox Russia forums. Shrines and the Victory Banner, hoisted over the Reichstag and removed from the storage of the Central Museum of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation by the Russian Ministry of Defense for the first time in the last 20 years, have become key exhibits.

However, each of the 700 rare exhibits that witnessed the tragic events of 80 years ago attracted the attention of visitors. Every day, seven days a week, one and a half hundred guides and caretakers met people, conducting free guided tours and parallel organized excursions every 15 minutes. In just one month, the project team conducted 1024 guided tours for more than a fifth of all guests. In addition, more than 40 evening excursions were conducted by participants of the TV show "Cool topic!" — leading teachers of Russian schools. Teachers revealed the connection between the history of the war and school subjects: physics, chemistry, mathematics, biology, geography, Russian language and literature.

Among the organized group visits were schoolchildren and students of educational institutions in Moscow, Moscow and nearby regions. Students from 133 schools in Moscow, Smolensk, Ryazan, and others saw the exhibits with their own eyes, sometimes coming back. Students turned out to be no less curious about military history. Groups from 29 leading universities of the capital visited the exhibition, from Moscow State University, MGIMO, RUDN University, HSE to Gubkin, Bauman, Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, Transport and the Gnessin Russian Academy of Music, as well as many others.

Moreover, the exhibition "The Great Victory. Russia is my story" became the focus of attention of participants in international and national events. The exposition impressed the participants of the International Russian Language Forum "I Teach the Great", which includes 150 teachers from 17 countries. A series of final educational events were held at the project site, the main program of which was an introduction to the history of the war. The exhibition was attended by more than a hundred heads of educational institutions – members of the "Club of Directors", heads of 25 regional multimedia historical parks from the All–Russian Forum "Russia is My History", heads of leading Russian universities from the final meeting of Open Education Centers and other delegations. On the last day of operation, the exhibition was visited by participants of the events of the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly who arrived in Moscow.

Each of the visitors, Russians and guests of our country, did not remain indifferent after visiting the exhibition. Many wiped away their tears, remembering their elders who had survived the Great Patriotic War or not, shared their memories and stories, and left hundreds of feedback and wishes to the project team. The co–organizer of the exhibition, the Russia – My History project, thanks each partner for the work done and for their invaluable contribution to the common cause of preserving the historical memory of the role of the USSR in defeating Nazi Germany and the feat of the Soviet people during the Great Patriotic War!