Information Technologies and Museums: Online Museum "Moscow - Taking Care of History" launched

A unique online museum "Moscow - Taking Care of History" has been launched in the capital. It is a joint project of the Main Archival Directorate of Moscow and the centers of public services "My Documents".

The website releases documents and unique artifacts collected by specialists within a year.

Now it includes almost 7 500 exhibits. All of them are stored in the Main Archival Directorate of Moscow, information about them entered special registers. Scanned copies of documents and photographs of items were sorted and provided with detailed descriptions. In the future, this data will be able to researchers, pedagogues, and all who love history.

The project is a real website-museum with many sections and interactive elements.

All information is in chronological order: from January 1941 to December 1945. Besides, there are thematic blocks: "Military and Political Events", "Moscow News", "Culture, Education, Religion", "Economics, Science, Medicine". They contain the articles of the capital's newspapers. Users may learn that, for example, on February 17, 1941, the USSR ice skating championship took place in Moscow, and in April the capital hosted a decade of Tajik art. Lots of documents and newspaper articles of these sections are released for the first time.

Another important part of the project is maps. They, as well as airplane photographs and explanations, are collected in a separate section.

Users have an opportunity to see city streets’ panoramas during the war, photographs of buildings and interiors.

The website feature documents from the Archive of the Moscow Office of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation. They highlight the work of the Moscow Office of the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs behind the front line, combat operations of fighter battalions. The website also provides other military documents: military identity cards, Red Army books, flight logbooks.

Another section of the virtual museum is entitled "Letters of Victory". It consists of documents from the families of Moscow residents. Russian artists read aloud letters and memoirs of soldiers, their relatives, and friends.

The exposition of real items is also unique. It presents more than a thousand artifacts. Among them are awards, watches, cameras, equipment, as well as very unusual exhibits. For example, the website users may look at a real gramophone with a set of records.