Part I. Buryatia and the Fleet (July 31 – September 30, 2008)

Participants of the exhibition: The Khangalov Museum of Buryat History, the Central Naval Library (Saint Petersburg), the Nature Museum of Buryatia (Ulan-Ude), the Omulev Baikal Museum (Kabansky District, Buryatia), the Irkutsk Region Museum of Local Folklore, the Baikal Museum of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Listvyanka), the P. P Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow), and Ulan-Ude’s private collections.
Authors of the exhibition – A. A. Pershin and I. Y. Krylova; curator – I. Y. Krylova.
Lake Baikal and the History of the Russian Fleet. Part 1: Buryatia and the Fleet opened on July 31, 2008 at the Ulan-Ude’s Sampilov Art Museum of the Republic of Buryatia.
The grand opening ceremony was attended by Republic of Buryatia President V. V. Nagovitsyn; the Fund for Protection of Lake Baikal President A. N. Chilingarov; M. V. Slipenchuk, METROPOL Group of Companies Head and Chairman of the Guardianship Board of the Fund for Protection of Lake Baikal; and A. M. Sagalevich, Director of the Manned Submersibles Laboratory of the P. P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
The first part of the exhibition was split into the following four section topics: Glorious Baikal – Sacred Baikal; Contemporary History of Lake Baikal Research – Deepwater Submersions on Baikal; Buryatia and the Traditions of the Russian Fleet; the History of Baikal Region Natural Resource Management.
The exhibition premiered the displays of: a unique collection of books about past Baikal expeditions, early 20th century atlases and maps (from the Central Naval Library), local fishing gear, models of ships that once prowled Lake Baikal, and naval artifacts – treaties on the lake and its shores, as well as personal mementoes and badges of Buryat naval officers. A separate exposition was dedicated to the research that has been conducted on Baikal by the Pisces and Mir manned submersibles.
The exhibition, which was organized by the Fund for Protection of Lake Baikal and the Cruiser Varyag Charitable Foundation in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Buryatia, received the prestigious Best Museum Project of the Year award.

Part II. Irkutsk and the Fleet (June 14 – August 28, 2009)

Participants of the exhibition: The Central Naval Library (Saint Petersburg), the Irkutsk Region Museum of Local Folklore, the East Siberian Railway Museum (Irkutsk), the Icebreaker Angara Museum of the Irkutsk Branch of the All-Russian Society for the Preservation of Historical and Cultural Monuments (Irkutsk), the Baikal Museum of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Listvyanka), the Limnological Institute of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Irkutsk), the Khangalov Museum of Buryat History (Ulan-Ude), (Kabansky District, Buryatia), the P. P Shirshov Institute of Oceanology (Moscow), the archive of Count P. S. Sheremetyev (the private collection of S. G. Semyonov, Moscow), the Cruiser Varyag Charitable Foundation collection.
Author and curator of the exhibition – I. Y. Krylova.

The studio museum of the Irkutsk Region Museum of Local Folklore hosted the grand opening of Lake Baikal and the History of the Russian Fleet. Part 2: Irkutsk and the Fleet on June 14, 2009, a date timed to coincide with the opening of the second season of the Mir on Baikal International Research Expedition.
The ceremony was attended by the region’s Minister of Economic Development, Labor, Science and Higher Education Vladimir Pashkov; Chairman of the Guardianship Board of the Fund for Protection of Lake Baikal M. V. Slipenchuk; the Director of the Baikal Institute of Nature Management of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences A. K. Tulokhonov; Vladimir Fialkov, Director of the Irkutsk Science Center of Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences; and other officials.
These unique historical components were collected with the support of the METROPOL Group of Companies, the Cruiser Varyag Charitable Foundation, and the Fund for Protection of Lake Baikal.
With the Andreyev Flag and sails of the Baikal research fleet spanning the two main hallways, the presentation was split into the following five section topics: the Siberian Sea and its Sailors: the Baikal Flotilla and the Eastern-Most Admiralty of Russia; the History of Baikal Region Exploration and the Russian America; Siberian Anniversary Heroes: Commemorating the 120-Year Anniversary of the East Siberian Steamship Company and the 110-Year Anniversary of Lake Baikal Icebreakers; Recent Baikal Research – Deepwater Submersions on Lake Baikal; and the Wonders of Baikal and its Limnologists. Local residents and guests were offered a chance to survey the historical retrospective of the local navy and shipping fleet’s development, the history of Lake Baikal exploration, the establishment of the Irkutsk Admiralty and Navigation School, and the fascinating details of previous Siberian Sea expeditions. The exhibition also offered a detailed survey of past research conducted on Baikal by the Pisces and Mir manned submersibles.
Irkutsk has never before had the chance to display its natural and military histories and science at such a level.