Historical Museum of G.Y. Sedov

On July 8, 1990, in the homeland of the conqueror of the Arctic, in the village of Sedovo, Novoazov district of Donetsk region, the grand opening of the historical museum dedicated to G.Y. Sedov took place.

The building of the museum, similar to the silhouette of a sailboat, was designed specifically. And decorated by St. Petersburg artists of the combine of painting and design art. The result of the creative efforts of the authors of the project, V. Solomin and O. Pleskov, and the designers, was the creation of an interesting historical museum, whose fund today has more than 2000 exhibits.

Georgy Yakovlevich Sedov (23 April (5 May) 1877 – 20 February (5 March) 1914) is known not only as a polar explorer, but also as a hydrograph who made a great contribution to the study of the Arctic seas. And visitors of the museum are given a unique opportunity to get acquainted with the materials of his early expeditions to Kolyma (in 1909) and the Caspian (in 1911), marked by high awards, such as the Order of St. Anne of the 3rd degree and the Order of St. Stanislav of the 3rd degree.

The exposition of the museum shows visitors and household items of the Sedov family - dishes, textbooks, a network for fishing, a model of a fishing hut. The thematic exposition “History of the Krivaya Kosa farm” (now the village of Sedovo), dedicated to the birthplace of the legendary polar explorer, tells about the first pages of the history of the farm, about the life of fishermen. Interesting are the tools presented here, interior items of the peasant hut. Museum staff constantly conduct research on the history of the development of fishing in the Novoazov district, bit by bit collect materials on the history of the village Sedovo. Therefore, the exposition is periodically replenished with new interesting objects.

A large thematic section of the museum exposition “G.Y. Sedov – the pioneer of the Arctic” is devoted directly to the personality, life path and immortal feat of the head of the first Russian expedition to the North Pole. Visually, this will tell valuable relics, photographs, and unique documents. The map of the polar expedition, the original exhibits from the ship “Saint Martyr Fok”, on which Sedov went to conquer the extreme North, part of the ship’s skin and horseshoe, a shovel found on the island of Rudolf, at the place of the death of G.Y. Sedov, copies of voluntary donations for the purchase of dogs, food – all this you can see with your own eyes, visiting the museum.

Sedov’s dream came true, the north submitted to man. This is a very large section of the museum. The materials of the latest expeditions, the layout of the first polar station under the leadership of I. Papanin are clearly demonstrated.

The video library of the museum contains many documentary and feature films about the barque “Sedov”, about the study of the Arctic. A half-hour documentary "Expedition to the North Pole of G.Y. Sedov" from the archives of "Mosfilm" is truly priceless. It was in it that the participant of the expedition, the artist N.V. Pinegin, in 1912 captured black and white, without sound, unique footage of the first Russian expedition to the North Pole led by Sedov.

The materials collected by the participants of the legendary expedition in the field of geodesy, cartography, meteorology, geology, hydrography are an invaluable cultural heritage of the modern generation. And an important contribution to the preservation of this heritage is made by the historical museum of G. Y. Sedov, the great conqueror of the North, who gained immortality in his feat.