Joseph Stalin Museum in Gori

Visiting the Home of a Renowned Soviet Ruler, Joseph Stalin

One of the great benefits of visiting museums is that it allows you to change your perspectives. It’s an ideal place to learn about human history, and cultures of different countries. It preserves the legacy of humanity, chronicling both the good and the bad making the world a more enlightened place for present and future generations. Georgia, though it’s not a popular country, is a home to some of the notable people in the world. One of those was a great leader in Russia.

The Entrance 

After an almost hour of driving from Tbilisi with a lot picturescue sights on the way, we reach the city of Gori and stopped at a famous landmark, the Stalin Museum. It was still early part of the day so there’s not much tourist in the place. Upon entering its premises, I was welcomed with a beautiful garden, lots of pine trees and a green ambience. The standing statue of Stalin can be seen outside and I was able to take a look at him wondering who was the man behind the famous name. He must have been a very important person to be given such recognition. 

We went to the entrance and I paid 10 Gel for the fee. A tour with a guide is included as a package, but we still had to wait for an available English speaking guide and due to time constraints, we opted not to wait and explored it by ourselves. I just had the struggle because the labels are all written in mostly in Russian and Georgian language so in the end, I wasn’t able to read a thing and just contented myself with looking at the different displayed  structures and pictures. 

My guide Shota gave a short  introduction about him but I didn’t understand a thing. All I ever got is that, if Germany has Adolph Hitler, then the Soviet Union has Joseph Stalin. It is the only comparison I was able to comprehend and gave me the  idea why he was such an important figure in the history of Georgia (Georgia was once part of USSR). It was only later I found out after doing some research that there conflicting views about him. Some people consider him as a Hero; but for the others, a dictator and murderer. 

‘The Man of Steel’

He was known as the “Man of Steel” during his dictatorial ruling of USSR for almost two decades, and played an important role in defeating the Nazis during World War Two. He ruled with so much conviction and used terror as a means of holding his power. As a result, many has also died during his rule and he ranks as one of the world’s murderous leaders if not the top and that’s how some people actually consider him. 

But in the point of view of Soviet empire, he was certainly instrumental in making it the world’s second nuclear superpower and the dominating leader during the Cold War. Thus, his great contribution in strengthening and industrializing the Soviet Union made him a great figure that also gained so much recognition. 

The Museum

The Museum is an actual home of Stalin and its walls and structures hasn’t been change since his death in 1953. As what the informations says, it still resembles the structure of the Soviet Era and portrays Stalin’s life and death in each room. 

Russian Architecture 

We first went up through the red-carpeted stairs with another statue of Stalin at the end of its first flight. An elegant chandelier on its ceiling gives off most of the ambient light. 

On the second floor, There is an entrance to the main hall which is divided into 3 rooms, the first two rooms from the entrance mostly contains paintings and writings all displayed in grey and brown-colored wall. 

Each center has a one or two structures enclosed in a transparent glass, there’s one resembling an old home and a military tank. The third on the hall has relics mostly about war. It has a door which is adjacent to a separate room and another hall which serves as an exit. 

The separate room has the face sculpture of Stalin in a lying position. The ambience is all red with a minimalist touch. It has said to be the look of his face when he died.

Going to the other hall, a narrower one than the main, it still contains some of the relics of the past and stuff he used before. Wood structures in the center serves as room division but covers only a portion so one can see each rooms from end to end. 

Upon exit back to the stairs, there’s another room that looks like a workplace. Its much different than the rest with its purple-like colored walls. It has a desk, some tables and chairs and some head sculptures of Stalin. 

Well, everything about the place is glorifying the life of this dictator ruler. Visiting this museum, his actual home, is a learning experience for me which provided me valuable insights and of some knowledge about human and world history.