The Museum of the Siege of Leningrad was created during the Great Patriotic War and became the world's first museum dedicated to the history of the Second World War in Russia. In December 1943, adopted a resolution of the Military Council of the Leningrad front on the organization of the exhibition "The heroic defense of Leningrad." The exhibition was opened on 30 April 1944 and in 1945 converted into a museum of national importance. In 1949, the museum was closed to the public in 1953 and liquidated in connection with the "Leningrad affair". Some of the exhibits were destroyed, and some - deposited in other museums. Museum premises occupied organization under the Ministry of the Navy of Russia. During the period of "perestroika" in 1988 veterans of war and blockade, the cultural community of St. Petersburg raised the issue of restoration of the museum, which was reopened in 1989.