The ironclad cruiser Aurora is a monument to Russian shipbuilding and the history of the Russian Navy, a veritable relic of the 1917 revolution. In 1957 it was converted into a museum.

 
Designed by K.M.Tokarevsky, the cruiser was built at the New Admiralty yards in 1897-1900. During the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05 it took part in the Battle of Tsushima. In the First World War it operated in the Baltic. In February 1917 the crew of the Aurora hoisted a red flag to express its support for the revolution. On 25 October 1917 the cruiser fired a blank shot from its bow to signal the storming of the Winter Palace. During the Great Patriotic War of 1941-45 the ship was anchored in the vicinity of Oranienbaum, near Leningrad, though its guns were still utilized in land operations. In 1948 the Aurora was moored permanently alongside Petrovskaya naberezhnaya. Following a major overhaul in 1984-87 the ship resumed its original form.

In terms of equipment and armament, the cruiser was a model of early 20th-century naval machinery. One can see the engine-room, boiler compartment and radio room. Rare photographs and documents relating to the ship's history are on display along with the personal belongings of its crew.