The Information and Exhibition Centre of Penza State University houses a unique exhibit – a photo album with a built-in music box. It was presented by the crew of the tanker “Penza”, assigned to the Black Sea Shipping Company, who visited the university in 1957 (then it was called the Penza Industrial Institute).
The crew members told the students how they serve. “Communists, Komsomol members and all sailors of tankers perform their duties in an exemplary manner, often visiting foreign ports, the sailors hold high the honor of a Soviet person,” wrote the newspaper “For the Engineering Personnel” on July 4, 1957.
The rector of the educational institution Vasily Artyukhin presented the sailors with a box with soil and the inscription “Let this Penza land, part of our great Motherland, inspire you to perform glorious deeds and exploits far from your native shores.”
The tanker’s crew also presented an album with rare photographs from different countries and cities where the ship had visited. For example, they depicted a memorial to the sailors killed in French Gal, landscapes of Arab countries, and much more. When you turn the pages of the album, a gentle melody still plays from the built-in music box.
When the tanker was in Tuapse, the residents of Penza visited it again.
