Historical Background
Loudspeakers are rightly considered one of the key symbols of the Siege of Leningrad. When the city was cut off, about 1,500 loudspeakers were installed throughout it, and they served many important purposes: warning the population of air raids, giving instructions on what to do in various emergencies, broadcasting poems and music, and reading out letters when the mail stopped working. The ticking of a metronome, which sounded from the speakers between broadcasts, told residents about air raids: if the metronome beat 60 times a minute, all was calm; if faster, an air strike or shelling was coming. In 2002 a memorial plaque and a monument to the Leningrad loudspeaker were installed.


