# Kubinka Tank Museum (Центральный музей бронетанкового вооружения и техники)

**Kubinka Tank Museum** (Центральный музей бронетанкового вооружения и техники, Central Museum of Armored Weapons and Equipment) is a Russian state museum of tanks and armored fighting vehicles at Kubinka in [Moscow Oblast](https://www.edgepedia.org/moscow-oblast), grown out of a [Red Army](https://www.edgepedia.org/red-army) proving-ground collection. It displays more than 350 armored vehicles from 14 countries on open sites and pavilions covering 12 hectares, including one-of-a-kind vehicles such as the Soviet five-turret [T-35](https://www.edgepedia.org/t-35) and the German super-heavy Maus.<sup>[1](https://kuban-museum.ru/en/podmoskove-i-moskva/kubinka-moskovskaya-oblast.html)</sup> Since 2014 it has been a branch of Patriot Park, a military-patriotic theme complex of the Russian Ministry of Defense.<sup>[2](https://www.valka.cz/Kubinka-Centralni-muzeum-obrnenych-vozidel-a-techniky-t184528)</sup>

| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Founding | 1 August 1938, by Defense Committee decree No. 180 "On the use of old non-serial tank types available in the RKKA"<sup>[3](https://kubinkamuseum.ru/index.php?Itemid=271&id=73&option=com_content&view=article)</sup> |
| Collection origins | Gathering began in the first half of the 1930s with tank and armored-car testing at the Kubinka armored-vehicle proving ground<sup>[4](https://parkpatriot.ru/o-parke/history/)</sup> |
| Public opening | 10 September 1972, on Tankman Day; previously access was limited to government members, senior commanders, designers, scientists, and defense-industry personnel<sup>[3](https://kubinkamuseum.ru/index.php?Itemid=271&id=73&option=com_content&view=article)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[4](https://parkpatriot.ru/o-parke/history/)</sup> |
| Collection size | More than 350 armored vehicles from 14 countries, on 12 hectares across seven pavilions<sup>[1](https://kuban-museum.ru/en/podmoskove-i-moskva/kubinka-moskovskaya-oblast.html)</sup> |
| Unique exhibits | Around 60 vehicles exist in a single example and can be seen only in Kubinka<sup>[3](https://kubinkamuseum.ru/index.php?Itemid=271&id=73&option=com_content&view=article)</sup> |
| Museum status, 1994 | Became the Military-Historical Museum (of armored weapons and equipment), an independent organizational unit founded by the Russian Defense Ministry<sup>[3](https://kubinkamuseum.ru/index.php?Itemid=271&id=73&option=com_content&view=article)</sup> |
| Current affiliation | Branch of Patriot Park under Defense Ministry Order No. 811 of 30 October 2014; listed on the park map as Museum Site No. 2<sup>[2](https://www.valka.cz/Kubinka-Centralni-muzeum-obrnenych-vozidel-a-techniky-t184528)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[5](https://www.tripadvisor.in/Attraction_Review-g2396619-d3156048-Reviews-Patriot_Park_Museum_Complex_Stand_2-Kubinka_Moscow_Oblast_Central_Russia.html)</sup> |

## Origins as a proving-ground collection

The museum grew from the NIIBT armored-vehicle proving ground established at Kubinka in 1931, which tested prototypes of domestically produced tanks and later examined equipment captured in battle; captured vehicles were analyzed and then added to the collection.<sup>[6](https://www.osw.waw.pl/sites/default/files/Captuing%20minds_eng_1.pdf)</sup> [Collecting](https://www.edgepedia.org/collecting) began in 1931 and, on that basis, the Museum of Combat Vehicles was founded in 1938.<sup>[1](https://kuban-museum.ru/en/podmoskove-i-moskva/kubinka-moskovskaya-oblast.html)</sup> The museum's own historical account dates the official founding to 1 August 1938, when Defense Committee decree No. 180 directed the use of old non-serial tank types in the Red Army; the collection was initially kept in the open air.<sup>[3](https://kubinkamuseum.ru/index.php?Itemid=271&id=73&option=com_content&view=article)</sup>

A commission report of 1 April 1941 shows the early collection's character: it reviewed experimental vehicles such as the T-100 and T-100Y, and a British MkV tank, the "Ricardo", was among the initial exhibits.<sup>[7](https://www.tankarchives.com/2014/03/kubinka.html)</sup> During the [Great Patriotic War](https://www.edgepedia.org/great-patriotic-war) the facility evaluated captured German equipment, including the Panzer V Panther and Panzer VI Tiger, with findings that influenced Soviet tank design.<sup>[8](https://llmpedia.net/deepseek/Kubinka_Tank_Museum.html)</sup>

The museum in its broad sense was initiated by Chief Marshal of Armored Forces Amazasp Babadzhanyan and engineer Major-General Georgy Yakubchik. A work group of proving-ground staff and military unit 75221 built the vehicle sheds, prepared the vehicles, and arranged the exhibits within three months.<sup>[3](https://kubinkamuseum.ru/index.php?Itemid=271&id=73&option=com_content&view=article)</sup>

## Public opening and museum status

For decades access was restricted: only members of the government, senior military command, designers and scientists, and defense-industry personnel could visit.<sup>[4](https://parkpatriot.ru/o-parke/history/)</sup> The gates opened to general visitors on 10 September 1972, Tankman Day, described by the museum as its "second birthday".<sup>[3](https://kubinkamuseum.ru/index.php?Itemid=271&id=73&option=com_content&view=article)</sup> Western observers note that the collection first became known to the public in the late 1980s and early 1990s.<sup>[9](https://www.benning.army.mil/armor/eARMOR/content/issues/2001/SEP_OCT/ArmorSeptemberOctober2001web.pdf)</sup>

**Institutional milestones.** In 1989 the museum was reconstructed: exhibits were rearranged in chronological order, supplemented, and an administrative building was built.<sup>[3](https://kubinkamuseum.ru/index.php?Itemid=271&id=73&option=com_content&view=article)</sup> In 1994 it became the Military-Historical Museum of Armored Weapons and Equipment, an independent unit under the Main Automotive-Armored Directorate of the Russian Defense Ministry; in 1998 a chapel in memory of fallen tank crews was built on the site, consecrated in 1999 by Patriarch Alexy II.<sup>[3](https://kubinkamuseum.ru/index.php?Itemid=271&id=73&option=com_content&view=article)</sup>

## The collection

The museum exhibits English and French tanks from the First World War, almost all types of Second World War tanks and self-propelled guns of Soviet, German, and other production, and modern Russian army vehicles.<sup>[1](https://kuban-museum.ru/en/podmoskove-i-moskva/kubinka-moskovskaya-oblast.html)</sup> Vehicles came from Soviet purchases abroad during the formative years of domestic tank building, [Lend-Lease](https://www.edgepedia.org/lend-lease) deliveries, and trophies of the Red Army from the civil war, the Second World War, and later conflicts in Korea, Vietnam, Cuba, and the Middle East.<sup>[3](https://kubinkamuseum.ru/index.php?Itemid=271&id=73&option=com_content&view=article)</sup> Many vehicles are kept fully equipped and in working order, a goal pursued since the museum's inception.<sup>[7](https://www.tankarchives.com/2014/03/kubinka.html)</sup>

**Unique vehicles.** Exhibits that can be seen only in Kubinka include the T-35 five-turret heavy tank, the 180-ton German super-heavy tank Maus, and the 600-mm self-propelled gun "Adam".<sup>[1](https://kuban-museum.ru/en/podmoskove-i-moskva/kubinka-moskovskaya-oblast.html)</sup> The surviving Maus is a hybrid: Soviet specialists assembled it from the hull of one blown-up prototype and the turret of the other, delivered it to the Kubinka proving ground on 4 May 1946 for evaluation, and it remains on display in the museum's gallery.<sup>[10](https://warthunder.com/upload/files/Historical%20corner/EN/FebruaryEN.pdf)</sup> Hall 1 alone lists single-sample vehicles such as the SU-14-2 and SU-100Y self-propelled guns of 1939 and the ISU-130 of 1944.<sup>[11](https://paris33.org/guide/kubinka-tank-museum-collection)</sup>

**Foreign armor.** A 2001 survey in *ARMOR* reported that Kubinka held a foreign-armor collection described by Russian sources as the biggest in the world, totaling 290 vehicles, including modern American vehicles, alongside a comprehensive representation of Soviet and Russian tank development with rarely seen prototypes such as the T-80A (Object 219A), the Object 219RD diesel T-80B prototype, and the Zhalo-S tank destroyer based on the [BTR-70](https://www.edgepedia.org/btr-70).<sup>[9](https://www.benning.army.mil/armor/eARMOR/content/issues/2001/SEP_OCT/ArmorSeptemberOctober2001web.pdf)</sup>

## Integration into Patriot Park

Patriot Park was created by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu's order of 30 October 2014 and officially opened on 16 June 2015.<sup>[4](https://parkpatriot.ru/o-parke/history/)</sup> Under Order No. 811 of 30 October 2014, the museum's designation changed and it became a branch of the new Military-Patriotic Park of Culture and [Recreation](https://www.edgepedia.org/recreation) of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation "Patriot".<sup>[2](https://www.valka.cz/Kubinka-Centralni-muzeum-obrnenych-vozidel-a-techniky-t184528)</sup> It is now listed on the park map as Museum Site No. 2, several kilometers from the park's main site.<sup>[5](https://www.tripadvisor.in/Attraction_Review-g2396619-d3156048-Reviews-Patriot_Park_Museum_Complex_Stand_2-Kubinka_Moscow_Oblast_Central_Russia.html)</sup>

The reorganization changed the exhibition. In 2015 the museum ceased to exist as an independent organization under its old name; most of the most notable exhibits, including almost the entire collection of German Second World War tanks and self-propelled guns, most Soviet wartime tanks, part of Western wartime tanks, and even a British First World War tank, were transferred to the central part of the park kilometers away, although some exhibits remained at the old site, leaving the collection divided between locations.<sup>[12](https://michael-mints.ru/news-en/goodbye-kubinka/?lang=en)</sup> New exhibits added after the transfer carry Patriot Park inventory numbers (PP N) distinct from the Kubinka museum markings.<sup>[13](https://paris33.org/guide/cold-war-soviet-tanks)</sup> The park's broader complex, which spans 4,000 hectares and includes a conference center, hotel, reconstruction zones, and the Main Cathedral of the [Russian Armed Forces](https://www.edgepedia.org/russian-armed-forces) completed in 2020, presents the museum within a program of military-patriotic events promoted by the Ministry of Defense.<sup>[6](https://www.osw.waw.pl/sites/default/files/Captuing%20minds_eng_1.pdf)</sup>

## References

1. [Kubinka (Moscow region): attractions – Military Historical Museum of Armored Weapons and Equipment](https://kuban-museum.ru/en/podmoskove-i-moskva/kubinka-moskovskaya-oblast.html)
2. [Kubinka – Centrální muzeum obrněných vozidel a techniky, Valka.cz](https://www.valka.cz/Kubinka-Centralni-muzeum-obrnenych-vozidel-a-techniky-t184528)
3. [Танковый музей в Кубинке: история создания музея](https://kubinkamuseum.ru/index.php?Itemid=271&id=73&option=com_content&view=article)
4. [История развития – парк Патриот (официальный сайт)](https://parkpatriot.ru/o-parke/history/)
5. [Patriot Park Museum Complex – Stand №2, Kubinka, Tripadvisor](https://www.tripadvisor.in/Attraction_Review-g2396619-d3156048-Reviews-Patriot_Park_Museum_Complex_Stand_2-Kubinka_Moscow_Oblast_Central_Russia.html)
6. [Capturing Minds: Russia's attempts at patriotism (OSW studies, PDF)](https://www.osw.waw.pl/sites/default/files/Captuing%20minds_eng_1.pdf)
7. [Tank Archives: Kubinka (11 March 2014)](https://www.tankarchives.com/2014/03/kubinka.html)
8. [Kubinka Tank Museum, LLMpedia](https://llmpedia.net/deepseek/Kubinka_Tank_Museum.html)
9. [James M. Warford, "The Secret Museum at Kubinka", ARMOR September–October 2001](https://www.benning.army.mil/armor/eARMOR/content/issues/2001/SEP_OCT/ArmorSeptemberOctober2001web.pdf)
10. [War Thunder Historical Corner, February (Maus at Kubinka, PDF)](https://warthunder.com/upload/files/Historical%20corner/EN/FebruaryEN.pdf)
11. [Kubinka Tank Museum Collection Guide – exhibits list, Paris33](https://paris33.org/guide/kubinka-tank-museum-collection)
12. [Michael Mints, "Goodbye, Kubinka?"](https://michael-mints.ru/news-en/goodbye-kubinka/?lang=en)
13. [Cold War Soviet Tanks in Kubinka Patriot Park, Paris33](https://paris33.org/guide/cold-war-soviet-tanks)

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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › Education and knowledge institutions › Museums and collections › Military, war, and peace museums*

*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Sep 18, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 18, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*

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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license