ВДНХ is an exhibition center located in the north of Moscow. One of our students will write a piece on ВДНХ in a later post but this post is about a relatively new museum of history inside ВДНХ. Россия – Моя история is museum about the history of Russia under the two ruling families of the Ruriks and Romanovs. Michael Tanner describes our visit to the Rurik Dynasty part of the museum.
On Tuesday June 4th, our group went to VDNKh in Moscow. It is home to several buildings representing different countries as well as museums. In these buildings you can find some of the best exports of these countries. The area is gigantic and is accompanied by beautiful sets of flowers and other plants. It also has very grand and gorgeous fountains that change their flow and direction consistently to show-off just how glorious the place is. We came to this area not just for the lovely scenery but for a particular museum on the history of Russia. The Rurik dynasty was the main attraction in this museum
It was very cheap to go and view all the things we wanted to. The price was around 300 Rubles which is a little under 5 dollars USD. The museum was nothing like what I expected. I’m not a fan of museums personally but this one in particular was amazing. Our professor Dr. Nicolas Gossett knows the entirety of Russian history from the beginning to the present so as we went around the museum, he would explain everything to us since it was all in Russian.
Most of the rooms we went in had an interactive aspect to them which caught my interest every time I would walk in. You could scroll through different historic items or technologies and learn everything about them from their use to who created them as well as how significant they were to Russian history. Or you could witness important battles simulated on touchscreen table and watch history happen right before your eyes. Some rooms would have certain cues you could do to make the exhibit talk to you. For example, we were able to walk into a miniature (comparatively speaking) build of the Kremlin and go into a castle guard tower to pull on a bow string. You would then hear an arrow launch and the exhibit would explain how the guard used to be for the Kremlin. In one of the first rooms we were able to get on a boat and “sail” from one city to another and we had to row to get around while avoiding pirates and getting through the elements thrown at you. Another room was setup almost like an Imax Theater on the ceiling. You could sit in beanbag chairs along the walls on the room and watch a surreal religious experience happen above you.
After about 3 hours we had been told just about everything there is to know about the history of Russia. The place was very well crafted, and I thoroughly enjoyed my experience. I will be going back to take my girlfriend and show her the exhilarating time the museum has to offer.
USA in Russia 2019 