Kubinka Tank Museum near Moscow (with photos)

[PeteMitchell]

I may have a chance to visit the Kubinka Tank Museum near Moscow later this year:

http://tankmuseum.ru/kubinka-visit-tour-from-moscow/

Does anyone have any experiences in visiting it? Thanks!

[goose_2]

I may have a chance to visit the Kubinka Tank Museum near Moscow later this year:

http://tankmuseum.ru/kubinka-visit-tour-from-moscow/

Does anyone have any experiences in visiting it? Thanks!

OH BUDDY...That looks like so much fun. Enjoy, and I would love to get your thoughts on the visit and what you were amazed at.

[captainjack]

That sounds great.

[proline]

I would just keep in mind that Russia is a totalitarian country. While many people visit every year without issue, that's the best case scenario. In a dictatorship you do not have individual human rights or the ability to appeal to an independent judiciary. It is always possible to be swept up in politics beyond your control. As an example, the Chinese government took two Canadians hostage in an attempt to exchange them for a Huawei executive who was lawfully arrested for fraud in Vancouver. She is living under "house arrest" in a glorious mansion, they are living in solitary confinement with the lights on 24/7. When visiting a dictatorship, do not expect to be treated better than the way the locals treat each other just because you are foreign.

TLDR: when you put your life in the hands of a dictator, mileage may vary.

[ptje63]

Sounds great. Would surely take the opportunity if I were you, I know I would

[PeteMitchell]

Thanks for your views, guys!

@proline: where are you from?

[proline]

@proline: where are you from?

That's absolutely the wrong question to be asking. I appreciate that if you are from Belarus or Saudi Arabia or China you may have developed some degree of comfort with dictatorships. You may believe that the bad things never happen to anyone you know, or you may believe the state propaganda that they all deserved it anyways. Unfortunately, that comfort is an illusion. In a country where there are no human rights, including the right to effective legal representation and a fair trial, anything can happen. Again, I fully accept that 99.9% of the time things go off ok. Then again, you can always end up like the various "tourists" who go to North Korea thinking everything will be ok because the local government wants tourist only to be used as a bargaining chip and then be sent home on a ventilator. You can Google "Otto Warmbier" for details on that (and yes, I know the Russian dictatorship is a little gentler than the NK one... so far).

[PeteMitchell]

Thanks proline, I was just curious, no hard feelings... I agree with you and I will be careful!

Thanks for pointing it out!

[proline]

Thanks proline, I was just curious, no hard feelings... I agree with you and I will be careful!

Thanks for pointing it out!

There's no question thought the museum has an amazing collection including many things you can't find elsewhere. If Russia ever becomes a democracy I'd love to see it too. But of the 21 countries I've been to so far, all of them have been liberal democracies except one and I'd like to keep it that way (that one being Vatican City which has a pretty good reputation compared to other totalitarian regimes- they haven't killed anyone since the 1800s).

[PeteMitchell]

So recently, I went and it was all just fine, very friendly and professional people (former Russian army officers or just civilians). I also went to the SU Army Museum as well as to Park Pobedy (Victory Park) and its WW2 museum in Moscow...

It is very impressive to see how small and tiny some of the first tanks were (not all of course) and how big and massive the late war tanks/ATs were… Although I can relate to the size of Leopard II tanks, I didn’t really expect it to be like this, it was an amazing visit… I can only recommend it to anyone who gets the chance…

And for anyone who can’t go, here is a nice and relatively short/concise youtube video (not by me) which shows a lot but not everything of the Kubinka Tank Museum:


Of course, there are many more of these places worldwide, just to mention a few:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_St ... age_Center
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mus%C3%A9 ... ind%C3%A9s
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tank_Museum
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Tank_Museum
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Mus ... ry_History

[PeteMitchell]

20190906_121153-min.jpg (330.57 KiB) Viewed 3183 times

20190906_121210-min.jpg (414.47 KiB) Viewed 3183 times

20190906_121636-min.jpg (561.48 KiB) Viewed 3183 times

[PeteMitchell]

20190906_121726-min.jpg (544.92 KiB) Viewed 3182 times

20190906_121741-min.jpg (477.02 KiB) Viewed 3182 times

20190906_121959-min.jpg (387.04 KiB) Viewed 3182 times

[PeteMitchell]

20190906_122703-min.jpg (456.66 KiB) Viewed 3181 times

20190906_144331-min.jpg (570.86 KiB) Viewed 3181 times

20190906_144813-min.jpg (504.92 KiB) Viewed 3181 times

[PeteMitchell]

20190906_145406-min.jpg (297.54 KiB) Viewed 3180 times

20190906_145420-min.jpg (380.51 KiB) Viewed 3180 times

20190906_145428-min.jpg (359.84 KiB) Viewed 3180 times

[PeteMitchell]

20190906_145457-min.jpg (365.78 KiB) Viewed 3179 times

20190906_145514-min.jpg (534.28 KiB) Viewed 3179 times

[PeteMitchell]

I took around 150 photos so I won't be able to share them all here...

[PeteMitchell]

In this context, I also want to mention that I went to Piskaryovskoe Memorial Cemetery in St. Petersburg as well. This place holds the graves of almost half a million victims of the siege of St. Petersburg/Leningrad (in around 200 mass graves).

I have to say I felt very devastated at this cemetery…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Leningrad

[PeteMitchell]

20190919_134217-min.jpg (621.48 KiB) Viewed 3169 times

20190919_134308-min.jpg (449.65 KiB) Viewed 3169 times

20190919_134330-min.jpg (246.04 KiB) Viewed 3169 times

[PeteMitchell]

20190919_135010-min.jpg (845.47 KiB) Viewed 3168 times

20190919_135444-min.jpg (936.02 KiB) Viewed 3168 times

20190919_135636-min.jpg (361.51 KiB) Viewed 3168 times

[proline]

An amazing collection. Thanks for sharing. I certainly hope to visit one day, though I'll wait until Russia becomes a democracy where citizens and visitors are protected by the rule of law. I'm still young, so it could happen. Here's hoping.