Moscow museums · History
History · since 2001
The Gulag History Museum
State Museum of the History of the Gulag
original name: Государственный музей истории ГУЛАГа
The only state museum of this subject in Russia. The value lies less in the collection than in the existence of the institution; it is now closed, and a museum with a different subject has been announced in its place. That fact says more than any display, and it is why we keep the entry here.
Founded
2001
The museum is currently closed to visitors.
What to see
A reconstructed barrack and original camp doors; belongings and documents of prisoners; the Garden of Memory in the yard.
Reference
About the museum
Founded in 2001 by the historian Anton Antonov-Ovseyenko, himself a camp survivor. In 2015 the museum moved from Petrovka 16 to 1st Samotyochny Lane.
The building
A building of 1906, converted for the museum in 2015.
Good to know
The old address, Petrovka 16, has been out of date since 2015.
Getting in
How to get there
Metro Dostoyevskaya or Novoslobodskaya
Opening times
The museum is closed to visitors.
The museum has been closed to visitors since November 2024, officially over fire-safety violations. In February 2026 Moscow’s Department of Culture announced that a “Museum of Memory”, devoted to the “genocide of the Soviet people” and to Nazi crimes, would open in its place, headed by Natalya Kalashnikova. No opening date has been given.
Ticketschecked on 15 August 2026, open sources
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When to go
Closed to visitors since 2024.
Contacts
gmig.ru · +7 (495) 621-73-10
Of interest to children
The museum is closed.
Access for visitors with limited mobility
The museum — not checked. The museum is closed.
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