Museum "Heroes of Dnipro", Ivano-Frankivsk

The museum was opened on August 2, 1966, as a museum of the military glory of the 38th Combined Arms Army, formed in early August 1941 near Nizhyn, whose fate is inextricably linked to Ukraine (it fought through 12 regions and participated in the liberation of Prykarpattia from the Nazi invaders). Thousands of residents of our region fought as part of its units and formations, and many of them lost their lives on the roads of war.

On February 15, 1984, the board of the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine awarded it the title of "People's", and on May 9, 1984, it was named "Heroes of Dnipro" in honor of one of the brightest pages of the 38th Army's combat chronicle - the feat of its soldiers and commanders during the crossing of the Dnipro River and the liberation of the capital of Ukraine, Kyiv.

The museum's exposition covers 640 m2, and the exhibit fund includes more than 4 thousand items. The stands, podiums, and showcases contain thousands of exhibits from the period of World War II: Battle banners of the units (by the way, two of them - the 226th Hlukhiv-Kyiv Red Banner and the 70th Guards Hlukhiv Sixth Order Rifle Divisions - took a direct part in the liberation of Prykarpattia), weapons, awards, personal belongings, documents, photographs, letters from the front, items of equipment and everyday life of soldiers and commanders.

A significant part of the exposition is occupied by samples of small arms and artillery, which were used to forge the victory over the enemy. Numerous original newspapers and postcards on display also attract visitors' attention. Already at the beginning of the exhibition, in one of the showcases, there are newspapers from the first days of the war. One of them contains a report from the Soviet Information Bureau about the heroic feat of the soldiers of the anti-aircraft battery of Lieutenant Oleksii Muravyov, who shot down two enemy bombers on the outskirts of Stanislav in the first minutes of the war, and five more over the next seven days.

There is also a story about the heroism of the border guards of the separate Kolomyia commandant's office under the command of Major R. Filipov, who were the first to meet the enemy in the Carpathian region, and about the pilot, Junior Lieutenant Leonid Butelin, who rammed a German plane in the sky over Halych.

A special place in the exhibition is occupied by the diorama "The feat on the Dnipro". With the help of special electronic equipment, it tells the story of the crossing of the river in September and the liberation of Kyiv in November 1943. Its picturesque canvas with an area of 68 m2 was created by the Honored Artist of the RSFSR Konstantin Lebedev and the Honored Artist of Ukraine, a resident of our city Mykola Varenya. The area of the subject plan is 38m2. Before entering the exhibition hall, visitors pass through the "Zemlyanka" - a copy of the one built by sappers on the banks of the Dnipro River, from where the commander of the 38th Army, Colonel-General K.S. Moskalenko, gave orders to the troops to liberate Kyiv.

The museum's board and creative team are constantly working to improve the exposition. The section about the natives of Ivano-Frankivsk region who lost their lives in the battles against fascism as part of the units and formations of the 38th Army is noteworthy. The search collected and systematized information about the fate of 1530 residents.

A lot of attention is paid to the exposition telling about the modern Armed Forces of Ukraine, because future defenders of the Motherland, their parents and relatives are frequent visitors of the museum. The second reason for this increased attention is the difficulty of teaching pre-conscription training in educational institutions due to the lack of material resources. For this reason, the museum has created and equipped a separate section for this purpose, which is effectively used: here, students of schools and other educational institutions can get acquainted with samples of modern small arms, communications equipment, engineering and artillery ammunition. Everything in this section is supplemented with meaningful text annotations and rich illustrated material.

By the way, for schoolchildren and students, excursions to the museum are held at a time convenient for them, and teachers always note the content and accessibility of the material for different age categories. If necessary, visitors can also receive expert advice on search, military-patriotic work, the history of World War II, and a number of other issues related to military history.