The RFNC-VNIIEF Nuclear Weapons Museum is a museum operating under the Russian Federal Nuclear Center — All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Experimental Physics in Sarov (Nizhny Novgorod Region). It is dedicated to the history of the domestic nuclear weapons program and the work of RFNC-VNIIEF. The museum's holdings include an extensive archive of photo and video materials on the history of the All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Experimental Physics; documentary films about the nuclear center's outstanding scientists have been made on the basis of these materials. Rosatom has organized a virtual tour of the RFNC-VNIIEF museum complex, accessible from both a desktop computer and a smartphone; the project was organized by staff of the Historical and Cultural Center of the Rosatom State Corporation together with specialists from Museum Plus LLC, who previously carried out the reconstruction of the main exhibition hall of the Nuclear Weapons Museum and implemented similar VR projects for the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts and the Russian Museum.[6][5] The director of the RFNC-VNIIEF Nuclear Weapons Museum in Sarov is Ekaterina Vlasova.[5] In 2026, the nuclear center began expanding its museum infrastructure: the historic "House of Directors" in Sarov is being prepared to become a branch of the museum.

Planned Branch — the "House of Directors"

On August 31, 2026, the Ministry of Property and Land Relations of Nizhny Novgorod Region held an auction for a cultural heritage site of regional significance — a two-story wooden house at 5 Davidenko Street in Sarov. The starting price of the lot was 279 thousand rubles with a bidding step of 5 thousand rubles; no price increase occurred during the auction.[2] The buyer was RFNC-VNIIEF — an organization historically connected with the building.[3] Under the terms of the contract, the new owner is obliged to invest about 81.7 million rubles in the comprehensive restoration and reconstruction of the site.[3] The deal was announced by Deputy Governor of Nizhny Novgorod Region Egor Polyakov.[1]

The house was built in 1947 in the "cottage" style characteristic of that period.[4] Since its construction, the directors of KB-11 and VNIIEF have lived there: the first director of KB-11, Pavel Zernov, the physicist Anatoly Aleksandrov, the head of the nuclear center Boris Muzrukov, and the physicist Evgeny Negin. From 1972, the building was used by VNIIEF to house scientists visiting the enterprise.[3] The deputy governor described the house as a "unique material testimony to the era of the development of the first domestic atomic bomb."[3]

In the 21st century, the building passed into private ownership. The state seized it in 2024 because of improper maintenance.[2] By 2026, the house had been almost completely lost after a fire: only the foundation and parts of the walls survived, and the roof is missing.[2] Previous auctions produced no result — the first did not take place because of a lack of participants, and the second was canceled.[2]

After restoration, RFNC-VNIIEF plans to create a museum, memorial, and public space on the basis of the "House of Directors" that will become a branch of the Nuclear Weapons Museum.[1] A visualization of the mansion's future appearance has been published: the plan is to return it to the look of a two-story wooden building while preserving its characteristic architectural features.[4]

Sources

  1. Vremya N — The director of the RFNC-VNIIEF Nuclear Weapons Museum in Sarov is Ekaterina Vlasova. The museum's collection includes an extensive archive of photo and video materials on the history of the All-Russian (archive)
  2. napp52.ru — Rosatom has organized a virtual tour of the RFNC-VNIIEF museum complex, accessible from both a desktop computer and a smartphone. The organizers of the project are
  1. Business News. Time to Earn — RFNC-VNIIEF will restore the "House of Directors" in Sarov for a museum (archive)
  2. GIPERNN — The Russian nuclear center has purchased the burned-down "House of Directors" in Sarov
  3. NIA "Nizhny Novgorod" — The house of VNIIEF's first leaders in Sarov will be turned into a museum. Nizhny Novgorod News
  4. Newsroom24 — The House of Directors will be restored in Sarov and the Nuclear Weapons Museum will be opened — Culture (archive)