The Central naval Museum named after Emperor Peter the Great is one of the oldest museums in Russia and one of the largest Maritime museums in the world. It originates from the St. Petersburg model chamber-storage of shipbuilding models and drawings, first mentioned in a letter from Peter I on January 13 (24), 1709.the Model chamber was located in the Main Admiralty, where ships of the Baltic fleet were built.
In 1805, the "Maritime Museum" was created, the basis of which were the collections of Model cameras. By the end of the XIX century. The Maritime Museum has become a significant Russian cultural and scientific center, and has become famous all over the world.
In 1908, before the solemn celebration of the 200th anniversary of the Museum, it was named after its founder — Peter the Great. After changing a number of names, it became the Central naval Museum in 1924. Adjustments were made to its exposition in accordance with the spirit of the times.
In August 1939, the Central naval Museum was given one of the most beautiful buildings in Leningrad-the Exchange building. In February 1941, the exhibition opened in the new halls, but four months later the Great Patriotic war began. The most valuable exhibits were evacuated to Ulyanovsk. In July 1946, the Museum, which had returned from the evacuation, reopened its doors to visitors.
After the war, a modern network of branches of the Central naval Museum began to be created. In 1956, a branch was opened on the cruiser "Aurora" — the first Museum ship in our country. In 1972, the Road of life branch was opened in the village of Osinovets on the shore of lake Ladoga. In 1980, the Kronstadt fortress branch opened in the building of the Kronstadt naval Cathedral. Work on the establishment of a branch on one of the first Soviet — built submarines, the d-2 Narodovolets, was completed in 1994. the memorial complex, which became the first fully Museum-equipped submarine in our country.
The work on promoting the history of the fleet was highly appreciated — in 1975, by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the Central naval Museum was awarded the order of the red Star.
Since the 1980s, again, for the first time since pre-revolutionary times, the Museum's foreign exhibition activities have developed significantly, which allowed the Museum to achieve wider recognition not only in Russia, but also abroad. Now the Museum maintains business relations, organizes joint exhibitions with dozens of Russian and foreign museums.
For three centuries of its existence, the Museum has collected a huge number of valuable Museum items that reflect the most important events in the history of the fleet. More than 700,000 of them are stored in the Museum's funds. Including more than 13,000 items of ship equipment, more than 11,000 units of cold steel and firearms, more than 62,000 works of fine art, more than 56,000 items of uniforms, awards and badges, flags and banners, more than 44,000 documents and manuscripts, about 300,000 photographs and negatives, hundreds of thousands of sheets of drawings.
The Museum has one of the richest collections of ship models in the world (about 2000 units). The model collection clearly reflects the history of Russian and foreign military shipbuilding.
With the participation of the Museum, hundreds of exhibitions were held in St. Petersburg, Moscow and cities of the Russian Federation. Between the Central naval Museum and the museums of foreign countries have established a fruitful creative communication of the exhibitions in which he participated were exhibited in more than 20 countries.
In 2012, the existing branches of the TSVMM received the status of structural divisions of the Museum. The Museum of the Baltic fleet (Baltiysk) and the ship of military glory "Mikhail Kutuzov" (Novorossiysk) were added to them.
In April 2013, the transfer of the CVMM collection to the restored Kryukov (Naval) barracks complex was completed. In 2013, an exhibition complex of six halls, an exhibition in the atrium and the first stage of the main exhibition consisting of 6 halls began to work. By the day of the Navy, July 27, 2014, the exposition consisting of 19 halls is fully open to the public.
By order of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 2028-R of September 11, 2019, The Central naval Museum was returned to the historical name "Central naval Museum named after Emperor Peter the Great".