Mikhail Kutuzov Artillery Cruiser Museum

The cruiser Mikhail Kutuzov is permanently moored beside the Novorossiysk Marine Terminal. This Soviet Project 68-bis artillery cruiser now serves as a branch of the Peter the Great Central Naval Museum. Built in Mykolaiv in the early 1950s, it served with the Black Sea Fleet until 1998. Displays aboard include ship models and photographs of long voyages in the officers’ mess, Second World War awards and personal belongings of sailors and pilots, and the ship’s own MK-5bis turrets, anti-aircraft mounts and artillery guns. Visits are permitted only with a guide, who leads groups through decks and compartments while explaining daily service and the vessel’s technical systems. A full tour generally takes 90 minutes to two hours.

The cruiser has also appeared on screen in Commander of the Ship, Verdi and Sea Devils. Yuri Gagarin and Vladimir Vysotsky visited the vessel. It is recognised as a museum of national importance, preserving the material memory of naval service.