The Belgorod State Diorama Museum is one of the most impressive military museums in Russia, housing a massive panoramic painting of the Battle of Prokhorovka — the climactic armoured engagement of the Battle of Kursk in 1943. The painting stretches 67 metres and is 15 metres high, arranged in a curved panorama around the viewer with three-dimensional foreground elements blending into the painted background to create an immersive effect.
The museum documents the broader Battle of Kursk, which drew in over 6,000 tanks and 2 million men between July and August 1943. Belgorod was liberated from German occupation on 5 August 1943 — one of the first Soviet cities to be recaptured — and the date is celebrated locally as City Liberation Day. The museum has an extensive collection of WWII equipment, uniforms, maps, and personal accounts alongside the centrepiece painting.