Hall 7. «Heritage»
The memory of those who took the battle first, fought to the death on their defense frontiers, who was not broken by captivity and oblivion, this memory lives in the paintings of the artists, sculptures, films and scenic images.
The artist that was performing mostly the fortress themes in his paintings was Pyotr Durchin (1918 - 1997). The foundation of the memorial complex keeps more than 200 of his works. More than a quarter of a century P. Durchin was covering the fortress theme. In the left part of the hall the portraits from his cycle “The living faces of my friends” (1960 - 1961) are displayed. All portraits are performed in pastel technique. Working on this paintings cycle, the artist became a real explorer. He needed to travel a lot, while looking for his heroes in different cities. The portraits of the living defense participants are displayed in the hall: A. Sanin, A. Romanov, P. Kotelnikov, P. Gavrilov and S. Makarov.
Creating the images of soldiers and commanders that died in the fortress, P. Durchin was referring to the photo materials and memories of eyewitnesses and relatives. These portraits are performed using the techniques of etching and lithography. They are united in one series called “Life for the Homeland. The heroes of Brest” (1982 - 1987). The portraits of E. Fomin, I. Zubachyov, V. Bytko, A. Naganov and V. Horetskaya are showcased in this exposition. The artist devoted a lot of his attention to the pictures of postwar fortress looks, the places of former battles. The following works are displayed in the hall: “The ruins of the Brest Fortress garrison club (former church)”, “The fortress ruins” and the others. The following sculptures create the image of a strong and brave warrior: “The Brest Fortress defender” (1960) from the sculptor P. Potryvaev, the bust of the Soviet Union hero A. Kizhevatov (1983) from the sculptor A. Anikeychik, the sculpture “The monument to the Brest Fortress women” from M. Manukyan and A. Arutunyan (1988) and the others.
