Description of the attraction
Rubchoila is a small village located in the northern region of the ethnic area of the Livvik Karelians, namely 6 km from the village of Essoila. The landscape surrounding the village has a flat surface with a calm relief. The village is located away from many rivers and lakes. A road passes through the village of Rubchoila, which connects Kroshnozero and Essoila.
Rubchoila was founded in the 18th century. In 1773, 10 houses were registered in the village, in which 62 people lived; in 1905, 86 residents lived in 12 houses. Judging by the statistics of those past years, it will become clear that the residents of Rubchoila had rather rich private farms, because there were about 14 heads of cattle per household, which is twice as much compared to other villages in the Syamozero volost.
By 1909, a new general restructuring plan was drawn up for the village. The author of the proposed plan was a land surveyor from the city of Petrozavodsk B. V. Bekesh. These kinds of plans were developed by the bureaucratic apparatus without taking into account local peculiarities, for this reason, the peasants very often did not comply with the established rules.
At the moment, the houses are arranged as follows: the largest number of old houses are oriented with their front facades to the south side according to the old Karelian tradition, and the rest of the houses are oriented to the road; there are houses standing in the places that Bekesh pointed to. As a result of this arrangement, the living composition of Rubchoyly was significantly transformed and consisted of several rows of houses oriented on different sides.
A cemetery grove overgrown with spruces and pines and located in the center of Rubchoila gives the village a characteristic Karelian look. There is a chapel in the grove dating back to the second half of the 19th century. Baths are located in groups along the shallow stream flowing through the entire village.
Karelian researchers of wooden architecture came to the decision that the village of Rubchoila is an integral architectural and natural ensemble. In addition, the village is a favorite place for many Karelian artists.
Currently, there are eight buildings in the village, which belong to the monuments of Karelian architecture, among which one can distinguish: the Ermolaev house, built in the 19th century, and the Mikhailov house, also erected in the second half of the 19th century.
The Ermolaev House is a rectangular building covered with a gable roof. The building has a one-storey residential part and a two-storey part, equipped as a yard-barn. The house carries the functions of a kind of standard of forms and techniques, which are characteristic of the architecture of the Karelian-Livviks. These features include: an asymmetrical main facade, a cantilever protrusion of the rear of the barn wall, the orientation of the stove in the space of the hut to the side wall, as well as the active use of Karelian motifs in the entire decoration of the external facade. The house is located right next to the road in the center of Rubchoila and plays a compositional role in the development of the settlement. In addition, the Ermolaev house is a historical and architectural value, which is an example of a traditional village dwelling in the south of Karelia. The house houses an ethnographic museum.
Mikhailov's house is located in the northern part of the village of Rubchoila and occupies a priority position in the appearance of the entire street. The house carries the functions of a complex house, which combines not only residential, but also utility rooms under a gable roof. The building is an example of a typical architectural solution of a peasant dwelling of representatives of the northern Karelian-Livviks. The main facade is decorated with a beautiful decorative balcony and divides the upper room and the hut with a cut. The roof support brackets are hook-shaped. The stove, like in Yermolaev's house, is oriented towards the side of the wall.
Most of the travel companies of the Karelian Republic organize excursions to Rubchoila with a mandatory visit to the Ermolaev house as an ethnographic museum. In addition, the program includes a sightseeing tour of the historical part of the Rubchoyly settlement.
