Museum "Vladimirsky central": where is, the history, description, reviews

Vladimirsky central - one of the most famous prisons in Russia. Its more than two hundred years of history hides many riddles. In the middle of the 90s of the last century a museum was opened on its territory. Vladimir's central it is called by analogy with the name of the prison itself. In fact, it's a little bit wrong. This is a museum of the history of the Vladimir prison. This article is devoted to its basis, description and conditions of visit.

Prehistory

State houses for the maintenance of criminals in our country appeared 6 centuries ago. True, there were very few of them, since in the pre-Petrine Russia trial was fast, and for many, as would be said today, criminal crimes immediately took their lives, flogged the rods or cut off the hand. There were, of course, state criminals who, for one reason or another, were afraid to be executed, for fear of popular unrest or on the basis of some other considerations. Such individuals, mostly related to the royal, princely and boyar families, were forced to take monastic vows and sent to distant monasteries.

Everything changed in the reign of Catherine II, who, among other reforms, carried out reforms in the system of punishment for crimes. In 1783, she issued a decree, according to which it was prescribed to punish the criminal who committed petty theft, whips and put in "workers" or, as they were called, state houses. There they had to work until they had not only worked out the amount of damage inflicted on the owner of the stolen property, but also 6 percent more.

To implement the decree, it was required to build "working houses" throughout the country.

Foundation of the prison

Immediately after getting acquainted with the decree, the Vladimir Provincial Board ordered the architect Nikolay von Burke to work out a draft and draw up an estimate for the construction of the provincial "working house".

As a result, it was decided to limit the construction of four huts with hallways and closets, as well as a square log with a width and length of 9 arshins.

To build this state house from the provincial treasury was spent more than 145 rubles, and in August 1783, the opening of the prison.

In 1838 the Vladimir Workhouse was renamed into a convict company, which became the prototype of modern temporary detention facilities. It was used to keep those who in modern prison jargon are usually called "cossacks". They kept them there for only a few days, but daily deduced to socially useful works.

The history of the prison in the first half of the 20th century

Only in 1902 Vladimirsky central, a museum in which today is considered one of the most interesting sights of the city, became a prison in the modern sense of the word.

After the revolution of 1905 the composition of the sitters changed significantly, among which political prisoners began to predominate. By the way, the Prison of Vladimir began to be called precisely when those who wanted to overthrow Nicholas II were taken there. They were kept until until the party was recruited, which was sent into exile on the famous Nizhny Novgorod road.

After the Bolsheviks came to power in the country, the situation did not change. More precisely, since 1918 in prison "Vladimirsky central", along with other categories of prisoners, began to contain dissenters from the Soviet authorities.

In the mid-1930s, it was transferred to the jurisdiction of the NKVD, and later became subordinate to the management of the State Security of the USSR. In the postwar years, there were also collaborators who collaborated with the fascists.

Modern History

In 1978, on the eve of the Olympics, documents were prepared for the transfer of especially dangerous criminals to prisons in Kazan and Chistopol. In Vladimir, which is part of the Golden Ring of Russia, a large influx of tourists was expected, so it was decided to send all political prisoners as far from the capital as possible. In the same period, the Vladimir central, whose museum is constantly replenished with new exhibits, transferred 26 so-called thieves-in-law, that is why the criminal situation deteriorated dramatically and a bias towards the criminal situation took place.

Description of the prison

At the moment, Vladimirsky central is a prison for dangerous criminals. It contains murderers, rapists, recidivists, etc. Among them there are also lifelong convicted maniacs, who are housed in cells by two. The regime in the Vladimir center in recent years has become more humane and closer to international standards. In the cells there are TVs, and in some even refrigerators. Almost any literature is available to prisoners. They are allowed to write newspapers and magazines, as well as receive broadcasts and see relatives.

One of the cells of the Vladimir central in 1995 was converted into an Orthodox church, which was consecrated in the name of St. Nicholas. In 2003, a dome was erected over the church, and a few years later a small belfry was built.

With the aim of providing prisoners and incarcerated with legal information, the first in Russia "Legal Information Center" was opened at the Vladimirsky Tsentral in 2003.

Famous prisoners

As evidenced by the staff of the Vladimirsky Tsentral Museum, relatives of famous people often come there, who at various times were forced to stay within the walls of this prison.

Among her most famous prisoners are:

• Deputy of the prerevolutionary State Duma V. Shulgin, who took the abdication of the throne from Nicholas II;
• Participant of the White Movement, General D. Semenov;
• A revolutionary and one of the prominent military and Soviet figures MV Frunze;
• Colonel Abwehr and one of the organizers of the SS division "Galitchina" Alfred Bisanz;
• The head of the Hungarian People's Republic, Janos Kadar (at the time of imprisonment, the former head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Hungary);
• Armenian military and state figure Garegin Nzhdeh;
• Deputy Minister of the Ministry of the Interior of the USSR Stepan Mamulov, a close friend of Beria;
• The son of the "leader of the peoples" Vasily Stalin;
• The last Nazi commandant of Berlin G. Weidling;
• Famous singer Lydia Ruslanova, arrested along with her husband Vladimir Kryukov, who was part of the nearest entourage of GK Zhukov and was recognized as a participant in the "Conspiracy of the Military";
• The commander of the group "Center" of the German Wehrmacht Field Marshal F. Scherner;
• The classic of Tajik literature Said Rizo Ali-Zade;
• The pre-war prime minister of Lithuania A. Merkis;
• Minister of the Government of Israel and former Soviet dissident Nathan Sharansky;
• Archimandrite of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church KK Sheptytsky and others.

The Vladimirsky Central Museum: address

To get to this first in Russia institution of this kind is possible on foot, strolling along one of the main streets of the city - Bolshoy Nizhegorodskaya - to house number 67. You can also get there. To do this, take the trolleybus number 1. After passing from the station 3 stops (before the "Turn to Tochmash"), you should walk along the left side of the street a little on foot along the way. If you get lost, although it's almost impossible, you can ask any passer-by about where Vladimirsky central is located.

By the way, the walk will be quite interesting and informative, as on the way you can see the five-domed Virgin Mary-Assumption Church of the 17th century (address: Bolshaya Moskovskaya), Frunze monument, Christmas monastery, Stoletov's house-museum with 19th-century interior, etc.

The Museum of Vladimir Central

How to get to prison? This question may seem strange. However, in the case of the Vladimir central it is quite natural. After all, there is a museum in prison, which not only Russians but also foreigners wish to visit, among which there are many relatives of those who in different years were imprisoned in this prison.

The operating mode of the Vladimir Central Museum is not defined. The duration of the visit is 1,5-2 hours. Of these, a guided tour takes 40 minutes.

Foundation of the museum

Finding out where the Vladimir Central is located, many doubt whether it is worthwhile to visit it, because not everyone wants to get to a place where they will be presented in all its glory with the features of life "according to the concepts." Those who have already visited the museum unanimously assert that they should not be afraid of this, since it is not about laws adopted in the context of criminal criminals, but about the history of the Vladimir central and famous personalities who were kept in its walls for years.

The idea of creating such an institution appeared in the 1980s. However, in the Soviet period there was no question of its implementation. Work on the museum exposition began in the mid-1990s. It was attended by the staff of the prison and the Vladimir-Suzdal Museum-Reserve, who enthusiastically set to work and achieved good results.

Description

The museum was opened in 1997. He became one of the first in Russia. The Vladimir Central Museum occupies two former cells with embedded window openings. In the corridor through which visitors follow the museum, the best paintings and drawings drawn by prisoners are exhibited. Among them there are very good works.

In the museum there are a lot of interesting documents and photographs taken in different years, personal belongings of prisoners, objects of prison life, etc. They reflect the history of the Vladimir Central since the end of the 18th century to this day. Work on the search for exhibits was conducted for several years. To reconstruct the history of the prison, archives were studied, in which interesting information about dissidents, German high-ranking military personnel, representatives of the intelligentsia, as well as of the Soviet and party elite, who were victims of political repressions, etc.,

Some of the exhibits came to the museum from abroad. For example, in the museum you can see a number of documents that came to Vladimir from the United States from the relatives of American pilot Powers, who served time in the central office in the early 1960s.

A separate place is reserved for a collection of objects created by prison craftsmen. Among them - a tattoo machine made of a razor, a charger for a mobile phone built into the shale sole, etc. One of the most interesting exhibits is an old samovar, which provided "sidelites" with boiling water almost from the reign of Catherine II.

With great interest, visitors are also introduced to photographs taken in the years 1935-1940, when in the prison there were mostly "enemies of the people", including the relatives of Joseph Stalin's wife.

Visitors of the museum are invited to inspect the production of workshops, in which prisoners work. These are footballs, boxing gloves, telephone sets, etc.

Reviews

Prison is a sad place, therefore it is better for people with a weak psyche to refrain from visiting the Vladimir Central Museum. The testimonies show that on them the examination of the prison premises allowed to visit makes a depressing impression. As for the rest, lovers of history consider this excursion to be very interesting and informative. Of particular interest to them are the old photographs, a collection of counterfeit denominations, which at leisure were drawn by prisoners-counterfeiters, chess from bread crumb.

Now you know what is interesting prison museum of Vladimir central. The phone number for applications for the excursion can be found on the website of the institution. But is it worth it to visit, it's up to you. However, if you like unusual museums and want to get acquainted with the details of people's lives in Russian prisons, then be sure to visit this unique institution.