Museum of Defense of the Brest Fortress

The heroic defense of the Brest Fortress is one of the brightest pages of the Great Patriotic War of 1941 - 1945, witnesses of which are the ruins of the fortress, surviving soldiers of the garrison, items from excavations.

The first exposition about the defense of the Brest Fortress was opened in Moscow in the Central Museum of the Soviet Army (1952), in Brest - by the staff of the Brest Regional Museum of Local Lore (1953), in Minsk (1953).

Since 1954 the writer S.S.Smirnov became interested in the theme of the defense of the Citadel over the Bug, artists and writers, poets and film directors turned to the heroic theme.

In 1954 on the first floor of the North-Eastern defensive barracks of the Citadel soldiers of the 128th Rifle Corps opened the Room of Military Glory, on February 23, 1956 - the Room-Museum. In the exposition of 3 halls were presented 15 exhibits and photos received from the Brest Regional Museum of Local Lore, the House of Officers and the Central Museum of the Soviet Army (Moscow).

On November 8, 1956 the Museum of the heroic defense of the Brest Fortress was opened. In the days of the 20th anniversary of the heroic defense and the first meeting of the surviving defenders of the fortress, June 25, 1961 was held the opening of the expanded exposition of the Museum, which was located in 9 halls. The right to open it was given to the defender of the fortress, Hero of the Soviet Union P.M.Gavrilov.

In 1969 the museum was transferred from the Ministry of Defense of the USSR to the Ministry of Culture of the BSSR.

Today the exposition area of the museum is 1270 m2. The exposition was rebuilt in 1975, 1994 - 2008 and is devoted to the history of the fortress. Special attention is paid to the events of defense in June-July 1941 and the fates of its defenders.

Over the years the museum has been visited by about 25 million people from 140 countries of the world.

There are about 4 thousand exhibits in 10 halls of the museum.

The first hall "Pages of history of the Brest-Litovsk fortress XIX - early XX centuries" is devoted to the construction and modernization of the fortress, the events of the First World War, the fates of historical personalities connected with this period.

Second hall "Brest and Brest Fortress. 1918 - 1941" reveals the history of the fortress in the interwar period, when Brest was part of the Polesie Voivodeship of Poland, the headquarters and some units of the IX Military District were stationed in the fortress.

Hall 3, "Rise, Great Country!" covers the pre-war situation in the Brest garrison and the beginning of the Great Patriotic War. The central exhibit of the hall is an alarm clock - a symbol of the beginning of the Great Patriotic War (discovered in 1956 at the Terespol fortification of the Brest Fortress).

Hall 4 "Fighting in the Brest area in the first days of the war. Defense of the fortress. Battles at Terespol and Volyn fortifications" on the basis of documents and fates reveals the combat actions of units of the 4th Army of the Western Special Military District in the Brest-Baranovichi direction, tells about the border battles north and south of Brest, the defense of Terespol and Volyn fortifications of the Brest Fortress.

Hall 5 "Fighting at the Kobrin Fortification" is devoted to the fighting at the Kobrin fortification, where independent defense areas were formed: the location of the 125th Infantry Regiment, the residential area and the Eastern ramparts, the Northern Gate and the Eastern Fort.

Hall 6 "Citadel Defense" is dedicated to the fighting in the southern and northeastern parts of the Citadel. The central exhibit of the hall - Order No. 1 tells about the creation and the role of the Defense Staff (headed by Captain I.N. Zubachev and regimental commissar E.M. Fomin) in uniting the disparate groups of defenders and organizing the exit from the fortress.

Hall 7 "Defense of the Citadel. The last pockets of resistance" reflects the course of hostilities in the western and north-western part of the Citadel. The key position in this area was occupied by the Terespol Gate, which from the first minutes of the war became a place of fierce fighting. The part of the hall dedicated to the unknown defenders completes the theme of the defense of the Citadel above the Bug.

Hall 8 "The main stages of the war. Liberation". The exposition is devoted to the strategic operations of the Red Army on different fronts of the war, the participants of which were the soldiers of the Brest garrison in 1941, the liberation of Brest and the Brest Fortress during the Brest-Lublin operation (18.07 - 2.08.1944).

Hall 9 "The Great Victory" tells about the fates of soldiers of the Brest garrison in 1941 - participants of the Red Army offensive operations in Europe and Asia, the Resistance Movement and the end of World War II.

Hall 10 "In Memory and Heart" gives an opportunity to feel and understand that the tragic events of 1941 became the prologue of the Great Victory and the memory of them lives in today's generation. The feat of the defenders inspires composers, poets, writers, artists, photojournalists, masters of stage and cinema. Books written by participants of the events have a special power. The merit of the writer S.S.Smirnov in revealing the feat of the defenders of the Brest Fortress is invaluable.