Since the Swedish times in Vyborg only one bastion, standing here since the end of the 16th century - Panzerlaks, has survived. Once, one of the pair of corner bastions of the Gornwerk, attached to the Stone Town, was one of the most important fortifications of the Horned Fortress complex on the coast of the Vyborg Gulf. The powerful walls served as a protection for the troops that fired at the enemy from six loopholes located on three tiers of the bastion.
In the 18th century the Panzerlax bastion continued to serve as one of the main military engineering structures in the city, gradually undergoing various reconstructions . 1764 g . decrepit ceilings in casemates have been updated, and in 1782 a new powder cellar . was built. In time, the city gradually built up deep into the mainland, thus moving away from the coast, for this reason the Panzerlax bastion was no longer so important, the city no longer needed him Protective functions . The territory around the bastion overgrew plants, breweries and merchant shops, and on unfenced lands the peasants broke up the vegetable gardens .
By the middle of the 19th century The Horned Fortress, part of which was the Panzerlax bastion, completely lost its military significance and prevented the growth of the city. Gradually it was demolished, and the bastion was considered a historical monument and left in place.
In the 1930s. the city authorities of Vyborg began to build port facilities, and on the ruins of Panzerlaks, under the direction of architect Uno Werner Ulberg, a building was built in the style of constructivism (some classify the architecture of the building as a "functionalism" style), in which the Vyborg Art Museum, the Painters' Studio and the Art School opened. @@
The grand opening of a new cultural center in Vyborg took place on October 12, 1930. The museum collected an extensive collection of works by Finnish artists, as well as European and Russian art. And by the end of the 30's. Vyborg Museum was the second most important art museum in Finland after the Athenaeum in Helsinki. Unfortunately, it did not last long: after the defeat of the Finns in the war of 1939-1940, the museum exhibits were taken out and distributed among the museums of Finland. And in 1941, the museum wing of the building was badly damaged by fire.
In the Soviet years, the building of the former Art Museum and Art School was adapted to different institutions: the museum part was empty, and the "hostel" was first hostel, then the Vyborg branch of the architectural institute Lengrazhdanproekt . At one time there worked a cafe "Pantserlaks", loved by locals and tourists. Then in the left wing of the building the Children's Art School was located, and the right wing was empty and continued to collapse.
In June 2010, after a three-year restoration, in the former powder cellar of the bastion with the help of local authorities, the government of the Leningrad region, the culture committee and the security department a new branch of the State Hermitage, the new Museum of Archeology and the exhibition center "Hermitage-Vyborg", was inaugurated.
The existence of the Vyborg fortress covers a huge era, a layer of history, which is important to preserve for gr descendant descendants. The ruins of once valuable military installations remember the times of the Middle Ages, legends about battles, defeats and victories. The sights of Vyborg attract tourists all year round, because this is a city with a rich history, which monuments are not letting to forget, standing here for centuries.
How to get there
Address: Vyborg, Ladanov Street, 1, intersection of Vyborgskaya Street and Leningradsky Prospekt. You can get here from the Vyborgsky railway station on foot: on Leningradsky Prospekt you need to go to the end about 20 minutes.
Tel / fax: 8 (81378) 2-72-82, 8 (81378) 2-83-32
E -mail: hermitage_vyborg@mail.ru
The museum's website: http://erm.vbgcity.ru/
Work hours: From 10:00 to 18:00 (without days off), the archeology exhibition operating mode: from 10:00 to 17:00.
Cost Tickets: 30-250 RUB, depending on the type of ticket. For schoolchildren, full-time students, participants and invalids of the Great Patriotic War and persons equated to them, for the inhabitants of the besieged Leningrad, for the disabled of the I and II groups, the military personnel of the urgent service-citizens of Russia are free to enter.