Bunker in the forests of the Urals with the largest collection of small arms in Europe (Russia)

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Bunker in the forests of the Urals with the largest collection of small arms in Europe (Russia)

99% of the inhabitants of Yekaterinburg (and even more in Russia as a whole) do not even realize that a bunker is located in the Ural forests, about 20 kilometers west of Yekaterinburg. And in it, at a depth of 15 meters underground, is the largest collection of firearms in Europe. Hundreds of meters of tunnels, where the most unique weapons are laid out with incredible density, from the oldest models of the 12-14th centuries to the most modern. I myself did not know about this pearl of the Urals, if it were not for a coincidence: in April 2019, I flew to Yekaterinburg on my own business and spontaneously decided to write a large article about the conflict around the construction of the Church of St. Catherine in Yekaterinburg. To this end, I decided to find all interested persons (developers, the head of the city administration, representatives of the clergy, protest activists) and thus met businessman Igor Altushkin and his wife Tatyana. He can be called one of the kings of Russian metallurgy, and according to Forbes, he takes the 25th place of the richest people in Russia with a fortune of $ 4.3 billion ( link )

To Altushkin I had numerous questions related to the construction of the above-mentioned church in Yekaterinburg and I received answers to all questions. To be honest, the readiness of Igor and Tatyana Altushkin to meet and talk I was somewhat surprised. People of such a high status and position turned out to be absolutely adequate and easy to communicate. But even more I was surprised by others - that the leaders of the protest movement were inaccessible and too "high flight" to help me prepare an article on their own topic. Well, God bless them. The article eventually came out and in my opinion - quite neutral see. " I'm on the side of the protesters, but I'm FOR the temple "although it was necessary to collect the arguments of the protesters on the Internet.

Actually, screenshots from Forbes about Igor Altushkin and his company RMK -

Before setting off for a meeting, I unconditionally studied the Internet about this person and his projects. And in addition to business nuances, he suddenly drew attention to his hobby - collecting weapons. It interested me even more than the question of the temple. Because he himself served in the army and love weapons!

The meeting was scheduled at the residence of a businessman 20 kilometers from Yekaterinburg. This is an elite cottage village, inside which stands out his palace (somehow I didn’t think to take a picture, but the palace is decent) and this is a large, but not entirely understandable white building. It is there, at a depth of 15 meters underground, that a weapon bunker is located. The place, of course, is carefully guarded and three tall guys stood right next to me, making it clear politely but firmly that certain rules of behavior and photography apply in this place. Right! A little further, you yourself will understand that the safety standards in such a place are more than appropriate -

And here we are below. I must say that this is not quite a museum. There is no free access here and frankly, it will be difficult for me to answer the question of how you get here. Not that the collection is "secret." There is nothing secret in it. It's just that it is private and Igor Altushkin at the given time does not consider it necessary to open the collection for wide access to all comers. It's not just open the doors. These are issues of safety, security and legislative nuances, since all weapons are completely working and combat. This imposes a lot of responsibility on the owner. Maybe someday the situation will change. Today in the collection of 1200 small arms of different countries and eras -

The total value of the presented exhibits is measured in hundreds of millions of dollars, and individual samples are preserved in single copies and can cost millions. How do you like the 18th century Ottoman flintlock pistol with a HUMAN bone handle?

The personal weapon of the Ottoman sultan of the 18th century -

Many instances are truly unique in their own way -

In general, chic and brilliance: hammering with an ax and also shot, in 1490 -

Sword with diamonds and rubies -

The snuff gun of the era of Catherine II -

The weapon to defeat the BATTLE ELEPHANT (!) In ancient India. We ran up, stuck a peak and pulled the trigger -

Great-grandfather of the current machine with a natural cartridge belt inside, the 19th century -

The weapon of Russian America, made in the 19th century on the then Russian Aleutian Islands -

Saber pistols, two in one 18-19 centuries -

An interesting unit below. He shot himself and installed in banks at the entrance to the safe. Ropes stretched to the hook, for which the banker pulled and a shot was fired directly at the robber. Another thing is that smart robbers sent a local drunkard ahead and all 10 bullets were discharged into his head. Then the bank calmly robbed -

One gun - 4 muzzle. Also from the USA -

There are even modern Israeli Tavor machines (second from bottom) -

And all these copies have one "grandfather" - AK-47, simply put, "Kalashnikov". They were made in dozens of countries (besides the USSR) and here everything is presented. From the DPRK to Yugoslavia and from Poland to Cuba -

The value of these two assault rifles is not that they have the Kalashnikov brand. And in that, for example, the top copy was a gift from Kim Il Sung to a certain hero of military operations against South Korea. This is an incident that occurred in the Korean demilitarized zone (in the joint security zone - the Joint Security Area), which ended in the assassination of two United States Army officers by North Korean soldiers (axes and clubs). Literally translated from English, the incident is called the “Ax Murder Incident” incident, and in literary sources it is also called “The Pan Murmjome Ax Murder Incident” or “Tree Trim Incident”. Read more on Wikipedia .

The Finnish version of Kalashnikov -

The Israeli version of the same Kalashnikov under the brand name "Galil". In the seventies, Israel bought a license from Finland for the production of a Soviet assault rifle (Finland, in turn, received a license from the USSR) and after processing it, it released its own version of this weapon. By the way, being a soldier of the Israeli army, it was with Galil that I served -

Second on top is the world's first machine gun with a laser sight. The device weighed 2 kilograms by itself, not counting the weight of the machine. It was invented by the Americans and adapted to Thompson -

Of the first light machine guns with cartridge belt from the strap -

The third top gun was made in Israel in the late forties of the last century, immediately after independence and pay attention to the emblem "Tsahal" (Israel Defense Forces) -

Cool unit for shooting from the trenches, so as not to blow the head with return fire -

The third from the bottom is an Israeli machine made by Jewish underground in the early forties in Palestine, shortly before the Revolutionary War -

Universal mortar spade -

German assault rifles of 1943, entered service with the Wehrmacht just before the end of the war -

A machine gun manufactured by the Kingdom of Nepal (!), And this unit was in service literally until the end of the nineties of the last century -

Taiwanese (actually Chinese, if in fact) machine gun with the emblem of the Republic of China -

Cool submachine gun "Luger" 1908 release -

Actually, that’s all!
Bunker in the forests of the Urals with the largest collection of small arms in Europe (Russia)