KGB Espionage Museum

Former museum in New York City

40°44′14″N 73°59′51″W / 40.737358°N 73.997451°W / 40.737358; -73.997451TypeHistory MuseumCollection sizeOver 3,900 ObjectsWebsitehttps://kgbespionagemuseum.org/

The KGB Espionage Museum was a museum dedicated to the unbiased presentation of historical and contemporary KGB espionage equipment and tradecraft. The museum opened in the Chelsea and Greenwich Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City on January 17, 2019 and featured the world's largest collection of KGB-specific spy equipment.^[1] The museum offered interactive exhibits and guided tours. The museum closed in fall 2020 due to the impact of COVID-19 and its contents were auctioned.^[2]

History and formation

The museum in Manhattan was founded in 2019 by Lithuanian father and daughter team Julius Urbaitis and Agne Urbaityte. The collection began under private ownership by Mr. Urbaitis in Lithuania where their first museum opened in an old KGB bunker.^[3] The majority of the collection wasbrought to the United States and was available for public view for the first time.

Permanent collection

The KGB Espionage Museum was 4,000 sq. feet (370 sq. meters) and exhibited over 3900 objects. The collection consists of original pieces and two replicas. Prize objects include a lipstick gun known as the "Kiss of Death", a Fialka Machine (the Russian version of the Enigma Machine), and a suicide tooth filled with poison.^[4]^[5]

Exhibitions

The museum divided their collection into the following rough categories:

Spy Cameras
Recording Devices
Concealed Listening Devices
Cipher Machines
Spy Radios
KGB Telephones

Interactive exhibits

The KGB Espionage Museum offered several areas of interactivity for visitors such as:

A KGB Interrogation Chair
Morse Keys
Switchboards
KGB Chief's Desk
Robotic Arm
KGB Prison Bed
KGB Uniform Photo Booth

Tours

"Guided Tour": A guided experience^[6]
"Dark Side of the KGB" Tour: A guided tour of the museum in the dark using soviet flashlights^[7]
"Come Back in the USSR 1991" Tour: Experiential tour where the visitor dresses as a KGB cadet, learns how to put on a gas mask, and experiences a KGB interrogation^[8]

References

^ "Educative experience - KGB Espionage Museum - Learning experiences". KGB Espionage Museum. Retrieved January 29, 2020.
^ Bahr, Sarah (October 28, 2020). "K.G.B. Museum Closes; Lipstick Gun and Other Spy Relics Go on Sale" – via NYTimes.com.
^ Guno, Niña V. (February 3, 2019). "New York's KGB museum offers Cold War nostalgia fix". Inquirer Lifestyle. Retrieved January 31, 2020.
^ Visontay, Michael (July 31, 2019). "New York's new Cold War Espionage museum". Traveller. Retrieved January 29, 2020.
^ "KGB Espionage Museum - KGB Espionage Museum - Museum in NY". KGB Espionage Museum. Retrieved January 31, 2020.
^ Deb, Sopan (January 21, 2019). "A Museum for K.G.B. Aficionados? Da!". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved January 29, 2020.
^ "Announcing Exclusive Mysterious Tour 'The Darkside of the KGB'". KGB Espionage Museum. January 13, 2020. Retrieved January 29, 2020.
^ "Announcing New Experiential Show 'Come Back in the USSR 1991'". KGB Espionage Museum. January 13, 2020. Retrieved January 29, 2020.

External links

KGB Espionage Museum Website

Greenwich Village (including Meatpacking District, South Village, and West Village)

Manhattan, New York City

Buildings

Broadway–6th Avenue	74–96 MacDougal Street, 170–188 Sullivan Street Butterfield House Cable Building General Winfield Scott House Mills House No. 1 One Fifth Avenue University Village Washington Square Village Whitney Museum of American Art
West of 6th Avenue	2 Horatio Street 40 Tenth Avenue 45 Christopher Street 75½ Bedford Street 131 Charles Street 173 and 176 Perry Street 299 West 12th Street 302 West 12th Street Bell Laboratories Building Westbeth Artists Community Federal Office Building New York County National Bank Building Palazzo Chupi Salvation Army Headquarters St. John's Terminal Superior Ink West Village Houses
Former	Canterbury Hall Jefferson Market Prison

Culture

Shops, restaurants, and nightlife	Arthur's Tavern Barbuto The Bitter End Blue Hill Blue Note Jazz Club Café Bohemia Cafe Wha? Caffe Reggio Comedy Cellar Commerce Inn Cubbyhole Dante Don Angie Duplex Cabaret Theatre Frevo Gotham Bar and Grill I Sodi Jeju Noodle Bar Joe's Pizza John's of Bleecker Street Julius Kesté Kettle of Fish King Kosaka (Le) Poisson Rouge Les Trois Chevaux Lord's Marie's Crisis Minetta Tavern One If By Land, Two If By Sea Oscar Wilde Bookshop Perry Street Pommes Frites Red Paper Clip Semma Sevilla Smalls Jazz Club Stonewall Inn National LGBTQ Wall of Honor Sushi Nakazawa Via Carota Village Vanguard Wallsé White Horse Tavern
Museums and galleries	Center for Architecture Fort Gansevoort Maccarone Makeup Museum White Columns Whitney Museum
Hotels	Hotel Albert Hotel Gansevoort The Jane Marlton House The Standard, High Line
Theaters, studios	Barrow Street Theatre Cherry Lane Theatre Electric Lady Studios Film Forum IFC Center Lucille Lortel Theatre Minetta Lane Theatre New Ohio Theatre The Players Theatre Provincetown Playhouse Quad Cinema Rattlestick Playwrights Theater
Former	ANTA Washington Square Theatre Apostolic Recording Studio Avignone Chemists The Beatrice Inn Boomer's The Bottom Line Cafe Au Go Go Café Clover Café Society Caffe Vivaldi Carbone Cedar Tavern Chumley's The Cooler Cornelia Street Cafe Da Silvano El Faro Restaurant Eve's Hangout Film Guild Cinema Florent Garrick Cinema The Gaslight Cafe Gerde's Folk City Grand Central Hotel Greenspon Gallery Greenwich Village Theatre Hot Feet Club Hotel Lafayette KGB Espionage Museum Lion's Den Mineshaft Mori Nell's Nick's Nix Old Grapevine Pfaff's Piora Plane Space The Plumm Ramrod Rocco Restaurant San Remo Cafe Seventh Avenue South Sheridan Square Playhouse Soto The Spotted Pig Sweet Basil Jazz Club Tenjune Trude Heller's The Village Den Village Gate ZZ's Clam Bar

Parks, green spaces, and plazas

Current

Abingdon Square Park
Christopher Street Pier
Christopher Park
- Gay Liberation Monument
- Statue of Philip Sheridan
Father Demo Square
High Line
Hudson River Park
Jackson Square Park
James J. Walker Park
Little Island at Pier 55
McCarthy Square
Mulry Square
New York City AIDS Memorial
Pier 40
Washington Square Park
- Bust of Alexander Lyman Holley
- Statue of Giuseppe Garibaldi
- Washington Square Arch
West Fourth Street Courts
Winston Churchill Square

Former

Coles Sports and Recreation Center

Education

Libraries and schools	City-As-School High School Jefferson Market Library Notre Dame School PS 41 St. Luke's School Village Community School
Postsecondary	The New School for Social Research Fogelman Social Sciences and Humanities Library University Center New York University Brown Building Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò Elmer Holmes Bobst Library Fales Library Gould Plaza La Maison Française Silver Center Skirball Center for the Performing Arts University Village New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture Pratt Institute School of Information
Other	Greenwich House Greenwich House Music School Greenwich House Pottery HB Studio School for Poetic Computation
Former	École libre des hautes études Grammar School No. 35 New York Workers School

Religion
Church of St. Joseph in Greenwich Village Church of St. Luke in the Fields First Presbyterian Church Judson Memorial Church Our Lady of Guadalupe at St. Bernard Church Our Lady of Pompeii Church St. Veronica Church Trinity Chapel Washington Square Methodist Episcopal Church

Transportation

Subway stations	14th Street/Sixth Avenue 14th Street/Eighth Avenue Broadway–Lafayette Street/Bleecker Street Christopher Street–Sheridan Square Eighth Street–New York University Houston Street West Fourth Street–Washington Square
PATH stations	Christopher Street Ninth Street 14th Street
Streets	4th Street 5th Avenue 6th Avenue 7th Avenue 8th Avenue 8th Street 14th Street Bank Street Bleecker Street Christopher Street Gay Street Greenwich Avenue Greenwich Street Houston Street Hudson Street Jones Street LaGuardia Place MacDougal Street Patchin Place Thompson Street University Place Washington Mews Washington Street Waverly Place Weehawken Street West Street

Other sites
Fort Gansevoort Hess triangle Lenox Health Greenwich Village Minetta Creek

Related topics
Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation Little Spain

See also: Manhattan Community Board 2

v t e Museums in Manhattan
Financial District and Battery Park (Below Chambers St)	Castle Clinton China Institute Federal Hall National Memorial Fraunces Tavern George Gustav Heye Center Mercer Labs Museum of Art and Technology Mmuseumm Museum of American Finance Museum of Jewish Heritage National September 11 Memorial & Museum New York City Police Museum Skyscraper Museum South Street Seaport
Lower Manhattan (Chambers-14th Sts)	Asian American Arts Centre Drawing Center Eldridge Street Synagogue FusionArts Museums Hall des Lumieres International Center of Photography Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art Lower East Side Tenement Museum Merchant's House Museum Museum of Chinese in America New Museum New York City Fire Museum The Theatre Museum Ukrainian Museum Whitney Museum of American Art
Chelsea, Flatiron, Gramercy (14th-34th Sts)	Center for Jewish History Dia Chelsea Fotografiska New York John J. Harvey The Museum at FIT Museum of Sex National Museum of Mathematics Print Center New York Poster House Rubin Museum of Art The Shed Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace Tibet House
Midtown (34th-59th Sts)	Girl Scout Museum and Archives Houdini Museum of New York Intrepid Museum Japan Society John M. Mossman Lock Museum Madame Tussauds New York Morgan Library & Museum Museum of Arts and Design Museum of Broadway Museum of Modern Art New York Public Library Main Branch New York Transit Museum Paley Center for Media Scandinavia House United Nations Art Collection
Upper West Side (59th-125th Sts west of 5th Av)	American Folk Art Museum American Museum of Natural History Rose Center for Earth and Space Children's Museum of Manhattan New York Public Library for the Performing Arts New-York Historical Society Nicholas Roerich Museum Rose Museum
Upper East Side and East Harlem (59th-125th Sts on or near 5th Av)	The Africa Center Asia Society Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum El Museo del Barrio Frick Collection Frick Madison Gracie Mansion Grolier Club Guggenheim Museum Jewish Museum Metropolitan Museum of Art Mount Vernon Hotel Museum Museum of Motherhood Museum of the City of New York National Academy Museum and School Neue Galerie New York
Upper Manhattan (Above 125th St)	American Academy of Arts and Letters The Cloisters Dyckman House Hamilton Grange National Memorial Hispanic Society of America Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational Center Morris–Jumel Mansion National Jazz Museum in Harlem National Track and Field Hall of Fame Yeshiva University Museum Studio Museum in Harlem
Islands	Ellis Island Statue of Liberty Statue of Liberty Museum
Defunct	Chelsea Art Museum Dahesh Museum of Art Forbes Galleries KGB Espionage Museum Met Breuer Museum of Biblical Art Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art Museum of Primitive Art Rock&Roll Hall of Fame: NYC
Related	Museum Mile