Description of the attraction
As you know, today wood is a particularly prestigious and expensive building material, because not every owner who decides to renovate a house or furnish it with furniture can afford it. The city of Kostroma has long been famous for a large number of wooden buildings and houses. It was wooden architecture that became the starting point in the process of forming a new museum.
The foundation of the Museum of Wooden Architecture took place in 1958. It is located in the area of the Ipatiev Monastery. The museum is quite unusual, as all of its exhibits are kept in the open air and are examples of the cult and residential architecture of the past. The oldest and most famous of them are the temples from the village of Spas-Vezhi, from a village called Kholm: the house of Ershov of the 19th century, the Kletsk temple of the early 18th century and some other churches of various sizes and types. Houses are brought to the local place disassembled, after which they are assembled. In the interior, everything is furnished with objects of old ancient Russian way of life.
During the excursion, you can learn how the people living in such houses spent their lives, what they did, and also learn a lot about the use of various household items. Here you can see exactly how the old loom works, after which it will be possible to trace the appearance of linen.
The oldest monument of wooden architecture in the museum is the temple of the village of Kholm, which was erected in 1552. All the interior decoration of this temple has survived to our time. Today, the church building houses an exposition of house wooden carvings. There is a small wind staircase next to it.
The second, no less significant ancient monument, was the Spassky Church in the village of Spas-Vezhi. Judging by the scribes, the temple was built in 1628. It is the largest building of all the Kletsk temples that have survived to this day. The building is located on strong oak piles, which is especially unusual for this kind of buildings. The reason lies in the fact that the Spassky Church stood in an area where rivers often flooded, which flooded it. Judging by the layout and constructive solution, the church belonged to the old type of folk architecture, because its proportions literally reached artistic perfection. The interior of the temple is simple and uncomplicated. The building has small window openings and rather rough floors, and the most common benches line the walls. The temple is equipped with two kliros and an iconostasis.
There is still a legend according to which the temple was erected by two brothers named Mumievs, whose family originated from the city of Yaroslavl. Today, their names have been preserved on the upper frame, and the road from the village of Ovintsy is called the Mumiyev Trail.
Ershov's house is a wooden hut, which is inherent in the flavor and decoration of the 19th century. The hut was brought here from the village of Kortyuk. The old atmosphere has been completely restored in the house: the benches are in their places, there are shelves, a large stove with a wooden extension, and a collection of crockery made of wood. The exterior decoration also coincides with the original: the roof is on hens, small window openings equipped with shutters and platbands, a simple drainage system.
Not far from Ershov's house there are unusual baths built of wood, the roofs of which are at the level of bird nests. In these baths, people climbed high stairs, which is not typical for this kind of buildings.
It should be noted that the Museum of Wooden Architecture, located in the open air, is a unique collection of interesting material for the study of wooden medieval architecture. This statement is not accidental, because stone houses and buildings began to appear in Kostroma only at the end of the 18th century. The museum contains unique exhibits representing wooden architecture as the basis of medieval Russian architecture, which perfectly combines functionality and beauty.
In modern times, the inhabitants of Kostroma cherish the heritage of the past, making sure that the old folk crafts exist as long as possible.
