To keep the guests of sunny Evpatoria from getting bored, the hosts of the legendary resort prepared for them a whole pleiad of attractions — unique temples, a dolphinarium, ruins of ancient settlements, a brilliant theater and a dozen museums. The last in the city so much that it seems as if half of 100 thousand Eupatorians work in «Wine Museum» or in «Cosmic», in the house of Akhmatova or in «Pharmacy», which has preserved its appearance since the end of the century before last.
The main in a family of Evpatoria museums is the Museum of Regional Studies, which occupied in 1921 the house of merchant Gelelovicha on Duvanovskaya Street. Back in its infancy, the Evpatoria Museum of Local Lore consisted of 5 departments — atheistic, resort, ethnographic, industrial and archaeological. Later the museum expanded its holdings — the Juma-Jami mosque and karaite kenas were involved in cult education. After Ukraine gained its independence, a glass pyramid appeared right at the walls of the main Yevpatoria repository of historical knowledge over a fragment of the Kerkinitida wall, and a brand-new, needlepoint Museum of the History of the Crimean War was laid out on Revolution Street.
Its official opening took place on October 22, 2012, and the main sponsor of the new department of the local history panopticon was the Yevpatoria City Council.
The Museum of the Crimean War is located under the roof of the historical mansion, occupying 2 halls with a total area of 220 m². From its fellow «temple of the Muses» it differs from the maximum stylization of the XIX century, as well as the reproduction of the interior of the gut of the ship of the Russian Navy. In order for the guests of the museum to plunge into the epoch, the floor in the rooms imitates the wooden deck of a sailing frigate. Ropes and lanterns used by sailors are hung in the halls, and all exhibits are laid out in display cases made of artificially aged wood.
With the assistance of the City Council, this branch of the Museum of Local History received a multimedia installation, so during the tour tourists will hear the noise of the sea and howling wind, the roar of cannonade and military marches, fashionable in the era of Emperors Nicholas the First and Napoleon the Third. One of the walls of the museum imitates the hull of a sailing frigate with full sail lining, so this exhibit is adored by young visitors to the museum.
Besides interiors, the guests of Evpatoria’s panopticon are surprised by differently calibered remains of 53 allied ships, sunk during the Crimean War in the Gulf of Kalamitsky — ship cannons, bells, fragments of plating, rudders and helms. The exposition is supplemented with samples of weapons used by the Russian army, smoking pipes, sailors’ dice sets, medals, old photographs and paintings in the battle genre.
The tour of this attraction of Evpatoria comes with an audio guide, as in the best museums in Europe. If you have time to visit Krym, don’t spare an hour to see this particular division of the local Museum of Local History. It is one of the most atmospheric places on the peninsula, dedicated to the history of the Crimean War.