Location: Ulitsa Kremlyovskaya, Suzdal
Tel. 809231 20444
Open: Wed- Mon: 9:30am- 4:30 pm
Interior is open between 10th May and October 30th
The Museum of Wooden Architecture and Peasant Life is a whole open-air museum complex, which presents unique religious and residential wooden buildings of the 18th-19th centuries, brought from various parts of the Vladimir region. The museum was created in the 1960s-1970s according to the project of the architect of the Vladimir restoration workshop V.M. Anisimov, and is a stylized rural street with churches, houses, outbuildings. It is located on the banks of the Kamenka on the outskirts of Suzdal (at the entrance from Vladimir). The most ancient monastery in Suzdal, the Dmitrievsky monastery of the 11th century, once stood on this site.
Officially, the decision to create the Museum of Wooden Architecture
was made by the executive committee of the Council of People's Deputies
of the Vladimir Region in 1968. About 60 settlements of the Vladimir
Region were surveyed, 38 buildings were identified, of which 11 were
recommended for transportation to Suzdal. Quite a lot of time could have
passed from the discovery of the monument to its installation in the
Suzdal Museum. So, it took ten years to restore and transport to the
territory of the museum the Church of the Transfiguration (1756) from
the village of Kozlyatyevo, Kolchuginsky district. The central part of
this beautiful church is represented by three octagonal figures stacked
on top of each other, and three onion-shaped cupolas are covered with
plowshares (scales) made of split aspen, burnt to the color of silver.
The second wooden temple in the museum is the Resurrection Church
(1776) from the village of Potakino, Kameshkovsky district. It is built
in the so-called "ship" - a refectory is attached to the main volume (an
octagon on a quadrangle), and a hipped bell tower with a porch is
attached to it. Two of its cupolas are also covered with a plowshare.
The Museum of Wooden Architecture actually includes the St. Nicholas
Wooden Church (1766) from the village of Glotovo, Yuryev-Polsky
District, which stands on the territory of the Suzdal Kremlin, but
stands out from its respectable architectural ensemble. In fact, it was
with the transfer of this church to Suzdal that the organization of the
museum began, although it stands outside it. Nikolskaya Church resembles
more a village log house than a temple. It consists of two stands (the
main building and a refectory) placed on a basement and covered with a
plank roof on steep slopes, one of which is crowned with a small scaly
cupola. The refectory is surrounded on three sides by a light gallery,
which is accessed by a simple porch on the west side.
The Museum
of Wooden Architecture gives an idea not only about the rural
architecture of the Vladimir region, but also about the life of Russian
peasants of past centuries. Moreover, the museum reproduces the
furnishings of houses, the owners of which belonged to different strata
of the peasantry. You can see, for example, a one-story house of a
middle peasant with wonderful carvings over the windows (XIX century),
brought from the village of Ilkino, Melenkovsky district. Through the
covered courtyard one can go to an unheated barn, which served both as a
pantry for storing property and some food supplies, and as an additional
living space in the summer. In the smaller, warmer half of the house,
there is a typical setting: a red corner with icons, a Russian stove
with a stove bench, a dining table and benches. But there is also a
rather rare piece of Russian furniture - a "horseman", which served as a
matrimonial bed for the owners of the house, and a chest, and a
workbench for work.
The house of a prosperous peasant from the
village of Log in the Vyaznikovsky district (XIX century) is two-story,
on a brick foundation. The upper floor was occupied by living rooms,
where, in addition to the traditional furnishings of a village hut,
various objects of urban culture (a sewing machine, a mirror, etc.) are
presented, which speak of the well-being of the owners. The lower floor
was occupied by a weaving room, in fact, a village manufactory with two
weaving mills, a self-spinning wheel, and devices for rewinding threads.
In this room, with a separate stove and benches, if necessary, hired
weavers not only worked, but also lived.
On the "village street"
there are also small houses of poor peasants, in one of which there is a
souvenir shop where you can buy a revived folk print, CDs with old
Russian songs, etc.
In addition to the huts, the museum also
houses outbuildings: barns, grain-drying barns, wells, baths, and mills.
A rare exhibit is a wheeled (“walking”) well from the village of
Koltsovo, Selivanovskiy district (mid-19th century). To raise water
inside the wheel, equipped with steps, a person entered and, stepping as
if on a ladder, spun it. In one of the two windmills (XVIII century),
brought from the village of Moshok, Sudogodsky district, an exposition
is opened that acquaints tourists with the technical device of the mill
and the items necessary for organizing the flour milling business - this
is an integral part of village life.
A part of the Museum of
Wooden Architecture are barns on stilts, taken out of its territory,
standing on the banks of the Kamenka and brought from the village of
Poltso near Suzdal. Piles prevented the penetration of rodents into
barns where grain and cereals were stored, and the location of these
buildings near the river gave them a chance to survive in the event of a
village fire.
In 2012, the former house of the Suzdal merchants
Agapovs (XVIII-XIX centuries) was attached to the Museum of Wooden
Architecture, which housed the exposition “Suzdal Merchants. Portrait in
the interior. On the first, stone floor of the house, where the forge
was located, the blacksmith's working tools and blacksmith's products
are now displayed. On the second, wooden floor, the interior of a
merchant's house of the late 19th century was recreated. - a living room
and an office, documents and household items are presented.
The
Museum of Wooden Architecture in Suzdal has become a venue for many
holidays and festivals that attract a large number of guests and
tourists. One of the most original and famous holidays is Cucumber Day.
It takes place on the third Saturday of July, during the period of
picking cucumbers - almost the main vegetable crop of Suzdal gardeners,
who offer to try cucumbers in all forms: fresh, lightly salted, fried,
baked in pies, cucumber jam, etc. The holiday of folk crafts on the
Trinity (May/June) is also held on the territory of the Museum of Wooden
Architecture. The best folk craftsmen come here not only from all over
the Vladimir region, but also from other regions. Wide Maslenitsa with
pancakes and hot sbiten is celebrated here all week before the start of
Lent, and goose fights and "Shrovetide fun" are held on Saturday of
Maslenitsa week (February/March). Concert numbers of the best folklore
groups, folk games and fun, fair bustle are the obligatory attributes of
these holidays.
Exposure hours:
daily from 09:00 to 19:00;
last Wednesday of the month - from 09:00 to 14:00.
Ticket price:
Adults - 400 rubles.
Reduced tickets - 250 rubles.
Church of the Transfiguration (1756) from the village. Kozlyatyevo,
Kolchuginsky district, is a vivid example of a multi-tiered temple. It
is based on a quadrangle, on which three octals are placed one after the
other, gradually decreasing upwards. The church stands on a high
basement. The main volume adjoins: from the east the altar apse, from
the south and north aisles. On the western side there is a refectory
surrounded by an open gallery on massive logs-consoles. Bulb domes on
the drums and barrel covers are covered with elegant aspen plowshares.
The total height of the church is 21 m 25 cm.
Resurrection Church
(1776) brought from the village. Patakino Kameshkovsky district. The
church is a tiered "cage" type, built by a "ship", i.e. all its parts -
the altar, the main volume, the bell tower, the western porch - are
elongated along one axis. The main part is an "octagon on a quadrangle"
with a low octagonal roof. Adjacent to it from the west is a refectory
and hipped bell tower, the frame of which is widened at the ringing
tier.
Chapel from Bedrino (1880)
House of Merchants Agapovs, Suzdal
(XVIII century)
House of the Volkovs from the village. Ilkino (XIX
century)
Evgrafov's house from the village. Tyntsy (XIX century)
Residential house from Vasenino (XIX century)
Kuzovkin's house from
the village. Log (1861)
House of the Kulikovs from the village.
Kamenevo (1861)
Bath black from with. Novoaleksandrovo (XIX century)
3 pile barns from the village. Polco (19th century)
Walking well from
the village. Koltsovo (XIX century)
Labaz from with. Midge (XIX
century)
2 windmills from the village. Midge (XIX century)
2 sheep
from the village Nikitino (XIX century)