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New museum to open at Brest Fortress in summer

An archive photo

BREST, 9 January (BelTA) – The Brest Hero Fortress Memorial Complex is to launch a new museum project in summer. The project is financed by the Belarus-Russia Union State, Director of the memorial complex Grigory Bysyuk told BelTA.

The citadel is undergoing capital repairs, restoration and preservation of individual structures as part of the Union State project in 2018-2020. The work on the Eastern Fort began in the second half of 2019. Documents on capital repairs, restoration, conservation of the facilities of the Fifth Fort and on capital repairs of the lighting system of the memorial complex have already been drafted. Over RUB104 million are to be transferred to the memorial complex to perform the works, Grigory Bysyuk said.

Construction works are underway at the Eastern Fort now; an exposition is being put together simultaneously. The new museum will welcome first visitors in June. The main theme of the new museum is the defense of the Eastern Fort in 1941. That was one of the most powerful pockets of resistance in the Brest Fortress. The Nazi invaders could not approach the Eastern Fort. They had to use massive forces, including aviation, in order to break the resistance. The Brest Fortress defenders had to surrender. The museum exposition will walk visitors through the defense of the fort. The exposition is based on reminiscences of the defenders and memoirs of Petr Gavrilov who led the resistance at the fort, the director of the memorial complex said. The museum will also tell visitors why defenders had to surrender and what happened to them afterwards.

The Fifth Fort will also undergo dramatic transformations. A museum of fortifications and armaments is to be set up there. In 2019 the Fifth Fort welcomed over 20,000 people. The opening of the new exposition is expected to draw more tourists to the Brest Fortress.

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