The Victory Train departs for Belarus on the 80th anniversary of liberation from the Nazi invaders

In 2024, the Republic of Belarus celebrates the 80th anniversary of liberation from Nazi invaders. On June 21, 2024, the Victory Train set off on a tour of the country on the eve of large-scale celebrations of the anniversary of Operation Bagration, which was held from June 23 to August 29, 1944.

The project events are planned in 23 cities: Minsk, Brest, Mogilev, Vitebsk, Polotsk, Grodno, Gomel and many others. The operation of the train on the territory of Belarus is organized jointly with the Belarusian Railway.

The grand opening of the exhibition will take place on the territory of the Museum of Railway Equipment, located very close to the Brest Fortress, which was the first to take on the invaders on June 22, 1941. The soldiers of the Red Army and the locals who helped them rebuffed the most powerful Hitlerite army “Center.” The Brest fortress received the title of a hero fortress.

The project is being implemented by the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia together with the companies Russian Railways, Krasny Kvadrat, autonomous non-commercial organization Nevsky Batalist with the organizational support of Victory Volunteers.

Olga Petrova, Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, noted that in 2023 the exposition was visited by about 350 thousand people in 51 regions of Russia. It is planned that in 2024, more than 380 thousand Russians will get to see the Victory Train. “It is symbolic that the Victory Train will arrive in Belarus in the year of the celebration of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Republic from Nazi invaders. With the support of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Russia, the immersive exhibition will visit the cities of the Republic of Belarus, including Brest, where about 40 thousand inhabitants were killed during the years of German occupation. You will be able to visit the exhibition from June 21 to July 21. Earlier, the “Victory Train” has already traveled around Belarus, and more than 65 thousand people were able to visit it,” Olga Petrova noted.

The “Victory Train” consists of 10 exposition themed wagons: “Interactive,” “The Color of the Nation,” “Brest Fortress,” “Train to the front” and “Trenches,” “Concentration camp,” “Sanitary wagon and science,” “Wagon of the bath and laundry train” and “Blockade,” “Staff wagon” and “Armored train,” “Nuremberg trials” and “Japan 1945,” “Victory and homecoming.”

The exposition is filled with reliable information about the events of the Second World War. The Victory Train uses modern augmented reality technologies, surround sound and theatrical lighting, as well as sculptural figures recreated from preserved photographs from military albums. The maximum effect of presence is provided by more than 50 video projectors, 18 video walls, and over 140 different multimedia platforms.

One hundred and fifty five full-size sculptures and sets of clothes, more than 4 thousand pieces of props were created especially for the Victory Train. For greater detail, the authors of the exposition used filming of historical reconstructions with the participation of 400 actors and three-dimensional computer graphics simulating military equipment.

After the tour of Belarus, the museum train will return to Russia and will travel around the country until October.