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The Art Of War: Russia Creates 'World's Biggest' War Diorama

A state-funded exhibition in St. Petersburg recreates the battlefields of World War II in brutal detail.

Soviet and Nazi soldiers locked in a fight to the death in a trench.
1 Soviet and Nazi soldiers locked in a fight to the death in a trench.
Horses gasp their way across the Dnieper River as Red Army soldiers are blasted from their boat.
2 Horses gasp their way across the Dnieper River as Red Army soldiers are blasted from their boat.
Refugees haul their belongings past a wrecked Soviet tank. These are some of the scenes from an exhibition recreating the battlefields of World War II, known in Russia as The Great Patriotic War.
3 Refugees haul their belongings past a wrecked Soviet tank. These are some of the scenes from an exhibition recreating the battlefields of World War II, known in Russia as The Great Patriotic War.
An artist puts the finishing touches on a German tank. The exhibition -- Memory Speaks: The Road Through War, will open on September 19 and run until spring 2020.
4 An artist puts the finishing touches on a German tank. The exhibition -- Memory Speaks: The Road Through War, will open on September 19 and run until spring 2020.
Nazi troops inside a Soviet village. The exhibition is designed to be walked through, and none of the exhibits will be roped off from visitors.
5 Nazi troops inside a Soviet village. The exhibition is designed to be walked through, and none of the exhibits will be roped off from visitors.
The re-creation of a wartime workshop. The exhibition features more than 70 life-size characters in scenes that move chronologically through the Soviet Union’s war with Nazi Germany.
6 The re-creation of a wartime workshop. The exhibition features more than 70 life-size characters in scenes that move chronologically through the Soviet Union’s war with Nazi Germany.
A figure representing an elderly man who gained fame by reportedly fighting Nazi troops with his hunting rifle before dying in battle alongside his soldier son in August 1941.
7 A figure representing an elderly man who gained fame by reportedly fighting Nazi troops with his hunting rifle before dying in battle alongside his soldier son in August 1941.
A scene from the street battles of Stalingrad. Russia’s representation of the Second World War was criticized in September after a Kremlin-funded exhibition: 75 Years Of The Liberation Of Eastern Europe From Nazism, was held in Bulgaria’s capital, Sofia. The Bulgarian Foreign Ministry said in a statement: “Without ignoring the contribution of the U.S.S.R. to the defeat of Nazism in Europe, we cannot turn a blind eye to the fact that the bayonets of the Soviet Army brought the people of Eastern Europe half a century of repression.”
8 A scene from the street battles of Stalingrad. Russia’s representation of the Second World War was criticized in September after a Kremlin-funded exhibition: 75 Years Of The Liberation Of Eastern Europe From Nazism, was held in Bulgaria’s capital, Sofia. The Bulgarian Foreign Ministry said in a statement: “Without ignoring the contribution of the U.S.S.R. to the defeat of Nazism in Europe, we cannot turn a blind eye to the fact that the bayonets of the Soviet Army brought the people of Eastern Europe half a century of repression.”
The famous moment Red Army soldiers were photographed on the roof of Germany’s Reichstag, recreated in the exhibition. In Russia, World War II remains a sacred memory. An estimated 22-28 million people -- some 14 percent of the population of the Soviet Union -- died during World War II.
9 The famous moment Red Army soldiers were photographed on the roof of Germany’s Reichstag, recreated in the exhibition. In Russia, World War II remains a sacred memory. An estimated 22-28 million people -- some 14 percent of the population of the Soviet Union -- died during World War II.
Red Army soldiers paddle artillery across a waterway. The exhibition will reportedly be the largest of its kind in the world.
10 Red Army soldiers paddle artillery across a waterway. The exhibition will reportedly be the largest of its kind in the world.
A Nazi tank dusted with the rubble of battle. Many of the props used in the exhibition are authentic WWII-era weapons.
11 A Nazi tank dusted with the rubble of battle. Many of the props used in the exhibition are authentic WWII-era weapons.
A refugee and her dog walk past a destroyed tank. The exhibition is largely aimed at schoolchildren, who will be able to view the exhibition for free.
12 A refugee and her dog walk past a destroyed tank. The exhibition is largely aimed at schoolchildren, who will be able to view the exhibition for free.
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