Storm of Sapun Mountain on May 7, 1944 Diorama (Sevastopol)
Diorama is a Greek word meaning "see through", "see a part". A diorama is a scenic canvas of an open, semicircular view with figures and other objects in the foreground. The founders of a diorama painting principle were two French artists of the early 19th century, Louis Daguerre and Charles Bouton. Russian artists began to adopt the principles of diorama painting in the 1930s in the Moscow Studio of Military Artists headed by Mitrofan Grekov who painted several dioramas about the Civil War (1917–1923) in the 1930s.
The idea to create a Sevastopol Diorama appeared in the middle 1950s after celebration of the 10th anniversary of Sevastopol liberation and before preparation to the 15th anniversary of this event. A contract for making the Diorama was signed in November of 1957. It included construction of a Diorama building, painting of the scenic canvas, and creation of the foreground.
The Diorama was planned to be opened to public on 9th May, 1959, the date of the 15th anniversary of Sevastopol liberation. However, it did not happen and the Diorama was opened on 4th November, 1959.
Construction of the Diorama building was started in January of 1959 upon the project of V. Petropavlovsky, a Sevastopol architect. The building replaced the Military Field Museum of the Separate Coastal Army.
Sketches and main works on the canvas as well as the foreground objects were made in the Moscow Studio of Military Artists named after Mitrofan Grekov from February of 1958 to August of 1959. The author of the canvas was a famous Soviet military artist Peter Maltsev. He was assisted by famous military painters Prisekin and Marchenko. A military consultant was a hero of the Soviet Union Captain Ternovsky.
In May of 1958, a 10-time reduced copy of the canvas was examined and discussed by specialists of all services and corps of arms, participants of the storm, as well as art critics from Moscow, Kiev, Sevastopol, and Simferopol.
On 4th August, 1959, installation of the canvas and the foreground objects began in the Diorama building constructed on Sapun Mountain. It was finished on 1st November, 1959. The canvas was 25.5 m (83.7 ft) in length, 5.5 m (18 ft) in width, and 137.5 sq. m (1,480 sq. ft) in area. The area of the foreground was 83 sq. m (893.4 sq. ft).
Veterans of the Great Patriotic War (1941–1945) and participants of the storm of Sapun Mountain were the first ones, who visited the Diorama on 4th November, 1959.
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