Museum "historical and demonstration hall of the federal security service of the Russian Federation." KGB Museum in Prague

(Czech. Muzeum KGB) was founded by the Black Rain group. This non-governmental private association is a community of people passionate about the history of the most powerful and famous secret service in the world.

Over the years, they collected unique items related to the activities of the USSR Secret Service. The presence of many exhibits is explained primarily by anarchy and lack of control over many state museums The USSR during its division into many independent countries, former allies socialist republics. Many priceless exhibits were saved from looting, destruction, and disposal only thanks to “Black Rain.”

For the first time in the world, objects that belonged to the first persons of the Soviet state, the leaders of the Cheka - OGPU - NKVD - NKGB - MGB - KGB, and senior functionaries of the Soviet secret service were collected in one place. The exhibition includes completely unique exhibits, such as Lenin’s death mask, made in January 1924 by professors of medicine Vorobyov and Zbarsky (authors of a unique mummification technique human body), the murder weapon in 1940 in Mexico of Trotsky, personal belongings from the office of Beria, Marshal of the NKVD, head of the Soviet intelligence service during the difficult years of the war, later the head of the Soviet project to create atomic bomb, unusual looking small arms, chemical weapon, manufactured according to high technology that time and much, much more. Separate stands highlight the history of personal standard weapons of Soviet secret service officers. In the 20th century, such technology was actively developed, designed and created secret laboratories, institutes and specialized factories of the Warsaw Pact countries and, especially, the USSR. Into this invisible and closed to common man The industry attracted gifted scientists and talented designers, highly qualified engineers with unique abilities. Cameras for secret photography (in the USSR the term “secret photography” was used), items for secretly storing information (hiding places), means for applying signal marks, standard gifts for officers and KGB employees to celebrate various memorable dates from the history of the USSR and the KGB, the first insignia of agents, everything with which the activities of Soviet intelligence officers were inextricably linked, can now be seen on the walls of the KGB Museum in Prague.

Part of the exhibition is dedicated to the so-called “Prague Spring”. Many unique photographs from the city streets taken by KGB officers during the events of 1968. Unusual photographs reflect dramatic story of that time, the tragedy of a beautiful ancient European city, the fate of which became a small bargaining chip in a large gambling superpowers An unusually beautiful handmade banner that children from the VChK labor commune made within 2 months and presented to “grandfather” Lenin in the fall of 1923, 3 months before his death. After the death of the head of the Soviet state, this banner was bowed over the body of the leader of the world proletariat among the banners of the GPU NKVD of the RSFSR in the Hall of Columns of the House of Unions for 3 days. On that frosty January 1924, for 3 days, they passed by Lenin’s coffin more than a million Human. One can have different attitudes and comment on the existence of the most powerful secret service in the world, but what is certainly clear to everyone is that every state needs a strong secret service, an instrument for carrying out its foreign and domestic policies.

Museum address: Vlašska 13, 118 00 Praha 1, Malá Strana

The wonderful country of the Czech Republic is rich in all kinds of attractions; tourists are especially pleased with the capital Prague. Prague reigns special atmosphere, which immerses city guests in the historical past of the country, numerous museums in the city help in this. The article will talk about the extraordinary, unique KGB museum, filled with big amount interesting exhibits.

The emergence of the KGB Museum in Prague

Not so long ago, in 2011, the KGB Museum appeared in the capital, its doors opened both for tourists and for city residents interested to one degree or another in the history of the USSR. In the museum you can find a lot of information about the Committee State Security, in addition, see personal belongings that belonged to the leadership of the USSR.

The KGB Museum, or as it is called in Czech - Muzeum KGB, was organized thanks to a private collector who lived in Russia for some time. In the Russian expanses, the man began to collect his unique collection.

The basis of the collection is historical exhibits that were included in it back in the nineties. In those years, many small specialized exhibitions and museums closed, ceasing to exist forever, and items from there, in the best cases, ended up at flea markets.

What can you see at the KGB Museum

The Czech KGB Museum is one of the few places where they were able to collect in large quantities objects that were once in the possession of the top officials of the USSR, the leaders of the Cheka, GPU, OGPU, NKVD, MGB, KGB.

The museum's collection contains quite unusual items, among which you can see Lenin's death mask, a radio receiver from personal account Lavrentiy Beria, as well as the murder weapon of Leon Trotsky and hidden equipment from the laboratories of the State Security Committee.

Among the exhibits you will see those that have not yet been declassified as “top secret”, for example, confiscated photographs of army officers who took part in the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia. The photographs were printed from special films. And some materials even need to be considered very carefully and carefully. After all, a shiny box that is pleasing to the eye may turn out to be a container of poisonous gas “imprit”; gas was a common weapon for KGB agents. In addition, the ordinary pack of Soviet cigarettes you saw in the museum is in fact a dangerous weapon.

In addition to various unique items and existing secret materials, guests of the KGB Museum will be able to see the furnishings of the NKVD offices, carefully examine the telephones that the agents used and even find out from which glasses they drank tea.

A fascinating part of the museum is a photographic exhibition entitled “Prague 1968 - through the eyes of a KGB officer.” As many people know, in 1968 Prague was invaded Soviet troops and met serious resistance from city residents. One of the museum’s halls was completely dedicated to this event. But at the same time, here you will not see burnt tanks, blood and panic on the streets, you will only see how soviet soldiers filled the streets.

And in addition to the KGB exhibits, in the museum exhibition you can also get acquainted with the attributes of the Secret Service of the Czechoslovak People's Republic, they are also presented in sufficient quantities.

It is worth saying that in the same area, in addition to the KGB Museum, there are a lot of city attractions, which is very convenient for visiting guests.

• The museum is open daily from 09:00 to 20:00 pm.
• Ticket price to the museum is 200 crowns, approximately 300-315 rubles.

You can get to the museum by trams 91, 12, 20, 22, get off at the stop called Malostranské náměstí‎. The fare will be 15-25 CZK. It all depends on how long it takes you to get there; 30 minutes on a tram costs 24 CZK. Enjoy your trip, the ticket to the KGB Museum may be a little expensive, but you will learn new details about Soviet times.

How to get there

Tram: Stop: Malostranské náměstí
during the day: 12, 15, 20, 22, 23, 41; at night: 97.
Bus: Stop: Šporkova
during the day: 192.

Address: Vlašská 591/13, Prague 1
Website: kgbmuseum.com
Working hours: 09:00 - 18:00

That I don’t care about all the museums in the world put together, I only visit those that interest me. So far, the most interesting were the Apple Museum and the KGB Museum in Vilnius.

The museum is located on Gediminas Avenue in former building KGB of the Lithuanian SSR. It’s now called the “Museum of Genocide” because they put so much of the German Nazis’ entertainment on Jews in there. For Lithuanians it is the same thing: Soviet security officers or German RSHA officers are both occupiers and creators of genocide.

On the first and second floors of the building there are offices of security officers, wiretapping rooms, KGB archives and other top secret waste paper. In the basement there are cells where prisoners were kept and the gentlemen security officers administered their justice.

The most interesting thing in the offices is the documents. Letters, agent reports, orders, surveillance reports. Here is a letter to the prisoner there. Younger brother asks not to disturb his mother regarding issues of his personal life.

The security officer's office. Decanter, telephone with switches for communication between departments. A tape recorder, headphones and cassettes with recordings of interrogations. Anyone who watched “Seventeen Moments of Spring” remembers something similar in Muller’s department.

At the other end - air conditioning, an idiotic book, like a telephone directory, which clearly does not correspond to the year of the furnishings, the Lithuanian version of the newspaper "Pravda", and the buzz - Kosmos cigarettes (Kosmosas) and matches.

In the office there is a summary of the wiretapping of a conversation between two comrades disliked by the Union:

Telephone for communication within the building. I pulled the lever - the granny answered from the lobby. Works.

Summary of security officers' surveillance of a certain "Forward". Judging by the nickname, I think he is an American ill-wisher. Very interesting read. In principle, the scoop monitored everything visiting foreigners.

And this is even more interesting. Report from the agent. All the names have been blacked out, and, judging by the paint, not by museum employees, but by the security officers themselves. It is clear from the text that the agent has gained the trust of a certain suspicious citizen who has been under surveillance for a long time. On the right is the task from the Center: continue to maintain contact using friendly relations. You’re talking to a person, and he turns out to be an employee of Soviet intelligence, such are the morals.

The handwriting of suspected persons was checked not only with the working hand, but also with the precaution of the non-working hand: right or left. You never know what the enemy of the people will do, and we’ll catch him right away.

On the second floor are KGB paraphernalia. For example, a telephone and pontoon handcuffs. Not all hands will even fit into these.

There is version 2.0, more comfortable and wider.

The oath of a security officer is a kind of oath. The quintessence of Soviet communism. Nearby is a reminder to the security officer with Dzerzhinsky commandments.

Almost all representatives of the intelligentsia of 1937-1950 had such a suitcase. There is everything you need for a more or less tolerable stay in exile (in best case scenario). They stand at the door always collected and ready. When the guys in blue caps visited the house, there were no questions, they simply took him out and took him with them on an exciting journey

according to the Gulag archipelago.

Ancient 10 lit.

Immediately next to the entrance there is a reception desk with already familiar telephones.

Corridor of the KGB basements. The doors are cells with enemies of the people.

You need to get out of here quietly with the crazy guy.

Standard camera interior. All the little details were taken care of, even the windows were smoked.

Such a certificate was handed over to the command when the death sentence was carried out. Often, this was the only document about this fact; relatives did not receive anything.

Particularly unwanted gentlemen were thrown into a punishment cell, where a special regime of detention was observed.

To

The FSB Central Border Museum was established in 1914. The collection numbers about 70 thousand exhibits. Here you can see things from different centuries, among them all kinds of weapons, military uniforms, awards, banners, documents. Children's attention is always attracted by stuffed shepherd dogs, which showed the most best achievements in detaining violators and smugglers. Interesting sculptures and paintings are presented here. The things of border guard heroes, as well as rarities associated with kings, ministers, and leaders are of interest. border service. All these people made a huge contribution to the defense of the country.

Visitors to the FSB Museum will certainly be interested in real border markers from different centuries, starting with the reign of Catherine II. The personal belongings of the main Basmach Ibrahim Beg, as well as cleverly made suitcases in which they tried to bring spies who had completed their tasks out of the USSR, were also put on display. There are shooting pens, conventional weapons, and even a serious rocket launcher, recaptured from the Mujahideen from Afghanistan who tried to infiltrate the country.

Cases of attempts to smuggle contraband and illegally cross borders are presented very interestingly. In the museum you can see seemingly ordinary shoes with diamonds in the heels, or a straw handbag with banknotes inconspicuously woven into it.

There are five halls in total at the exhibition. The employees of the FSB border museum tried to present to visitors the history of the development of the service. The museum has exhibits that date back to ancient times. There was no term “border troops” then, but there were always defenders of their country standing on its borders. Their names have survived to this day only in such collective, epic images as Ilya Muromets and his comrades.

Closer eras are quite well studied. This includes the period 1917-1941 and post-war border protection. Much attention is paid to the feat that the border formations accomplished during the Second World War, which delayed Hitler’s troops on the border for a long time. During the time that she resisted, for example, only one Brest Fortress, entire countries surrendered and signed capitulation.

There is also a hall of fame in the FSB museum. It talks about some of the outstanding heroes who performed great feats while guarding the border.

IN Central Museum The FSB will tell you how the names of this service have changed over the years, but its goal has always remained the same - protecting the border from external attacks. The history revealed in these halls is not only interesting, it has a pronounced educational meaning. The Border Guards Museum will be interesting to visit for children and adults.