Well, to the Stalin Museum. It was before the war.
We were travelling back from Batumi on a Sunday and so as none of us had been to the Museum we all felt in need of some culture. It's quite a large museum though it hasn't been changed much since Soviet days. There are three parts to the museum: the large building on the left, situated in a rather nice green park; the wooden hut in which he apparently grew up, and which has been transported to the museum grounds; and his train (more later).
The guide appeared to have modified her speech slightly since Soviet times, because it anticipated a more democratic approach to the Soviet style of lectures by the guide. It brooked no interruptions: now I will tell you about his early work and I will tell you about his family later (subtext in no uncertain terms: do not interrupt my toneless monologue with stupid questions, which I have heard before and will not answer). Here she is, leading her flock. I was too timid to treat her as a museum piece and take a photo from the front.
Conditions were not ideal for photography, as the blinds were closed to keep the sun out, and we had to rush round to keep up with the guide.
Among the exhibits in the museum were the following which caught my eye. In line with Stalin's early life as a seminarist, is a book called "a general physiology of the soul". It was shortly after Karadzic had been caught and I was thinking that this looked like a book he might well have used in his disguise.
The second exhibit appears to be some immortal words of Stalin admitting he might have made some mistakes.
Then a picture of Stalin congratulating two pilots who were apparently the first to cross the Atlantic and land in Russia. In Lithuania we have been used to the story of Darius and Girenas who in 1933 successfully crossed the Atlantic but crashed in a field in Germany and never made it to Lithuania. They live on in their portraits on the 10 Lt note.
Rather like the Queen of England on her travels, Stalin received suitable presents from the grateful natives. I think Carpetblogger needs to acquire the carpet with a portrait of Stalin for her collection but alas it was not for sale in the shop, even in replica. The shop also had not fully adopted capitalism having only some mugs and Tshirts on sale. I invite you to suggest some suitable gifts (souvenirs from the gulag perhaps?).
So after the shop we were marched to the train. Anticipating something not at all like the Royal Train the Queen used in the past to survey her reign, I wasn't sure what was appropriate for Stalin in the 30s (or was it from the 50s, I don't think we were told).
After all it was Trotsky who was more famous for train travel. Google goes straight to the heart of the matter: Trotsky My Life Chapter XXXIV The Train. (How long is his book then?).
Now it is time to speak of "The train of the Predrevoyensoviet." [1] During the most strenuous years of the revolution, my own personal life was bound up inseparably with the life of that train. The train, on the other hand, was inseparably bound up with the life of the Red Army. The train linked the front with the base, solved urgent problems on the spot, educated, appealed, supplied, rewarded, and punished.
1. The train of the Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council. – Trans.
And we can note from the recent upgrading of the Abkhazian railway to the Georgian border by Russian railway troops, that the life of the Russian army is inseparably bound up with the train. See a report from June here
.
But it seems Stalin also travelled by train, complete with bathroom and all mod cons of the day. Even power points for his electrical typewriter?
There was also a large salon for receiving guests and the great man's chair. We encouraged our leader to have his photo taken in Stalin's chair, but under the circumstances it does not seem fair to reproduce it. In any case I seem to have lost it.
