Arsenal Special Device Production State Enterprise ( uk, Казенне підприємство спеціального приладобудування «Арсенал», translit=Kazenne pidpryiemstvo spetsialnoho pryladobuduvannya Arsenal), also known as the Arsenal Factory, is one of the oldest

factories A factory, manufacturing plant or a production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery A machine is a physical system using power to apply forces and control movement to p ...

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

History

Pre-1918

The factory was established in 1764 as a repair and production facility of the

Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army (russian: Ру́сская импера́торская а́рмия, Romanization of Russian, tr. ) was the armed land force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the earl ...

and the factory was initially based in a Kyiv Fortress compound in the Pechersk (Печерськ) district of the city. Workers at the factory included sniper

Lyudmila Pavlichenko Lyudmila Mikhailovna Pavlichenko, (russian: Людми́ла Миха́йловна Павличе́нко; uk, Людмила Михайлівна Павличенко (romanized: Lyudmyla Mykhailivna Pavlychenko), ; 10 October 1974) was a So ...

, who worked as a grinder at the factory prior to 1941.

The Revolution and World War II events

On January 29, 1918, the workers of the factory organized an armed pro-

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...

mutiny known as a

Kiev Arsenal mutiny Kyiv Arsenal January Uprising ( uk, Січневе повстання, translit=Sichneve povstannya), sometimes called simply the January Uprising or the January Rebellion, was the Bolshevik-organized workers' armed revolt that started on ...

or a ''January Rebellion'' against

Tsentral'na Rada The Central Council of Ukraine ( uk, Українська Центральна Рада, ) (also called the Tsentralna Rada or the Central Rada) was the All-Ukrainian council (soviet) that united deputies of soldiers, workers, and peasants deputie ...

, the Ukrainian assembly that declared the independence of Ukraine. To commemorate the event, the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

authorities preserved the historic defensive wall bearing the traces of shelling (situated on the city's ''Moskovs'ka Street'' near the ''Arsenal'na''

metro Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to: Geography * Metro (city), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urban ...

station).

While the civil production lines were added to the factory starting from 1918, the factory produced mostly the military related products throughout its history. In the 1920s, 1930s and during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

the factory mainly produced

artillery Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during sieg ...

anti-tank Anti-tank warfare originated from the need to develop technology and tactics to destroy tanks during World War I. Since the Triple Entente deployed the first tanks in 1916, the German Empire developed the first anti-tank weapons. The first de ...

, and

anti-aircraft Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...

guns. In summer 1941, immediately after the outbreak of the war between the Soviet Union and the Axis powers, the factory was quickly evacuated to Perm in the

Ural mountains The Ural Mountains ( ; rus, Ура́льские го́ры, r=Uralskiye gory, p=ʊˈralʲskʲɪjə ˈɡorɨ; ba, Урал тауҙары) or simply the Urals, are a mountain range that runs approximately from north to south through western ...

, far from hostilities. The factory buildings in Kiev suffered heavy damages from German

bombing A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-transmitted mechan ...

s. The relocated "Arsenal" continued to play a major role in arming the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian language, Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist R ...

Post-war

After the war, the Arsenal factory was reestablished anew at its Kyiv location and partly converted into a

civil Civil may refer to: *Civic virtue, or civility *Civil action, or lawsuit * Civil affairs *Civil and political rights *Civil disobedience *Civil engineering *Civil (journalism), a platform for independent journalism *Civilian, someone not a membe ...

company named ''Zavod Arsenal'' (while the other, smaller, part remained an unremarkable

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distin ...

repairing facility under a different name). Since that time, the name ''Arsenal'' is mostly associated with the larger company rather than with the military one (occupying the oldest building of old arsenal). During the Cold War arms race, Arsenal developed dramatically, becoming an important manufacturer of the military-related products and employing tens of thousands of people. The factory mainly specialized in optical components for the Soviet military and

space programs This is a list of government agencies engaged in activities related to outer space and space exploration. As of 2022, 77 different government space agencies are in existence, 16 of which have launch capabilities. Six government space agencie ...

. The factory also produced the professional grade photographic

cameras A camera is an optical instrument that can capture an image. Most cameras can capture 2D images, with some more advanced models being able to capture 3D images. At a basic level, most cameras consist of sealed boxes (the camera body), with a ...

"Kiev" but civil production played only a minor role in factory output. Tens of thousands of people where employed at the "Arsenal".

Perestroika and independence

After the beginning of perestroika, military orders dropped drastically and the Arsenal factory fell into a crisis which is still ongoing. The management attempted to convert the factory by concentrating more on consumer optics and other civil products, but these attempts did little to help the factory to emerge from the crisis. Comparatively insignificant figures of civil production sales could not support the employment of military-specialized workers in such numbers and maintain the gigantic premises. Today, control systems, gyroscopes, accelerometers and other products are used to create 'Neptune', 'Vilkha', 'Hrim-2' missiles and missile systems, 'Korsar', 'Stugna' ATGM. Products of the company are used in Ukrainian space program. Civil production includes consumer optics, medical and banking equipment, gauges for the

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbon ...

and

optical diode An optical isolator, or optical diode, is an optical component which allows the transmission of light in only one direction. It is typically used to prevent unwanted feedback into an optical oscillator, such as a laser cavity. The operation of ...

-based

traffic lights Traffic lights, traffic signals, or stoplights – known also as robots in South Africa are signalling devices positioned at road intersections, pedestrian crossings, and other locations in order to control flows of traffic. Traffic lights ...

. In addition, the company performs calculations and manufacturing of optical systems and other products to order. In 2019, Intergal-Bud construction company bought 1.4 ha or Arsenal Factory and rebuilt one of buildings into an office space.

Art museum project

In 2004, a Ukrainian oligarch and art

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

Viktor Pinchuk suggested to establish a

modern art Modern art includes artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophies of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the tradi ...

gallery in the oldest 19th century building of the Arsenal. This large fortress-like brick structure, situated on the ''Tsytadel'na Street'' and recognized as

architectural Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings ...

monument, now belongs to the Ukrainian military and is poorly maintained. Later,

Viktor Yushchenko Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko ( uk, Віктор Андрійович Ющенко, ; born 23 February 1954) is a Ukrainian politician who was the third president of Ukraine from 23 January 2005 to 25 February 2010. As an informal leader of th ...

, the

President of Ukraine The president of Ukraine ( uk, Президент України, Prezydent Ukrainy) is the head of state of Ukraine. The president represents the nation in international relations, administers the foreign political activity of the state, condu ...

, expressed his support to the museum idea but suggested that the museum had to be state-run and dominated by more traditional art pieces in order to become a "Ukrainian Hermitage". The process of converting the building to a civil use succeeded and in 2007 the museum called

Art Arsenal Mystetskyi Arsenal National Art and Culture Museum Complex, also known as Mystetskyi Arsenal ( uk, Мистецький арсенал, translated as the «Art Arsenal») — is Ukraine's flagship public cultural institution, a museum and art exhi ...

(Mystetskyi Arsenal) was officially opened. Nowadays,

(Mystetskyi Arsenal) which is based in some buildings of the Arsenal enterprise, is one of the biggest and most popular art location in Ukraine.

Product brands

;Photo cameras *

Kiev Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe. Ky ...

Salyut Cameras The ''Salyut'' programme (russian: Салют, , meaning "salute" or "fireworks") was the first space station programme, undertaken by the Soviet Union. It involved a series of four crewed scientific research space stations and two crewed ...

* ;Camera lenses * Arsat ;General * Fotar

Notable people

* Boryslav Brondukov *

Usher Ayzenberg Usher may refer to: Several jobs which originally involved directing people and ensuring people are in the correct place: * Usher (occupation) ** Church usher ** Wedding usher, one of the male attendants to the groom in a wedding ceremony ** F ...

Boris Ayzenberg Boris may refer to: People * Boris (given name), a male given name *:''See'': List of people with given name Boris * Boris (surname) * Boris I of Bulgaria (died 907), the first Christian ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire, canonized after his ...

References

External links

arsenalcdb.com.ua
- Official website – –

- Plans for the construction of an art museum {{DEFAULTSORT:Kiev Arsenal Factory Defence companies of Ukraine Optics manufacturing companies Aviation in Ukraine Economy of Kyiv Buildings and structures in Kyiv Manufacturing companies established in 1764 Manufacturing companies of the Soviet Union Defence companies of the Soviet Union Manufacturing plants in Ukraine State Space Agency of Ukraine Companies established in 1764