Malye Korely is the main museum of wooden architecture in Russia. Small Karelians Museum-Reserve A story about Small Karelians
Malye Korely (Arkhangelsk region, Russia) - expositions, opening hours, address, phone numbers, official website.
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The museum is located 25 km southeast of Arkhangelsk wooden architecture And folk art northern regions of Russia "Malye Korely". The formation of the exhibition began in 1968, and in 1973, in the vicinity of the village of the same name on the right bank of the Northern Dvina, this unique museum was opened under open air.
Attractions
On the museum’s territory of 140 hectares, 120 folk monuments were placed wooden architecture XIX-early XX century - These are civil, public and church buildings. The oldest of them are the St. George Church (1672, height with a cross 36 m), the Ascension Church “Cubic Temple” (1669) and the bell tower from the village of Kuliga-Drakovanovo (XVI century) - the oldest wooden bell tower preserved in Russia.
Arkhangelsk Museum of Wooden Architecture "Malye Korely" is the largest open-air museum in Europe
For some time now, the Arkhangelsk Museum of Wooden Architecture “Malye Korely” has become a center of pilgrimage for researchers of anomalous phenomena. Psychics became interested in this unique historical exhibition immediately after the people's telegraph brought to them the news that traces of sheep and brownies were found in one of the huts of a wealthy peasant located here.
According to the museum staff, the eighty-year-old caretaker of this hut, Grandma Praskovya, came into contact with them. According to her, she never felt better in her life than on the farm entrusted to her: “When I am on duty in the hut, the feeling that she former owners who lived here many centuries ago, take every care to ensure that I spend my time as in home. It’s like I’m throwing off six decades. Honestly, in my Khrushchev apartment I feel like a very old woman.” This wooden hut, as well as other buildings registered in Malye Korely, has alive soul, caretaker Praskovya is sure.
This year in honor Arkhangelsk Museum“Small Korely” The Bank of Russia has issued a collectible silver coin with a face value of 25 rubles. And two years ago, the National-Cultural Autonomy of Pomors appealed to journalists to respect correct writing names of historical settlements and objects on the territory of the Arkhangelsk region. Especially often, according to the observations of the head of the NCA of Pomors, Pavel Esipov, distortions are made in materials dedicated to the Lesser Korels.
Arkhangelsk state museum wooden architecture and folk art of the northern regions of Russia, “Malye Korely” received its name from the name of the nearby ancient Pomeranian village of the same name. From time immemorial, “Korelians” was the name given to one of the Finno-Ugric tribes that lived in the territory of Pomerania and subsequently merged into the Pomeranians. The word “Korela” is spelled with an “o”, as are the local names associated with it: Nikolo-Korelsky Monastery, the village of Korela and, accordingly, the open-air museum “Malye Korely”. All these words appeared hundreds of years before the name Soviet republic Karelia, therefore, the voluntary guardians of the historical purity of the Russian language urge us to treat them very carefully.
So don't confuse the names and watch the spelling. Otherwise, when going to the Arkhangelsk region, you may end up in the Republic of Karelia.
“Malye Korely” is the largest open-air museum in Europe; it covers an area of 140 hectares. Located 28 kilometers south of Arkhangelsk, on the right bank of the Northern Dvina at the confluence of the Korelka River. By the way, it is also the northernmost of all “open” museums in Russia.
The Russian North is a taiga region. Since ancient times, people have cut giant huts, bathhouses, barns, mills here from pine and larch, and erected tented churches. According to Russian tradition, there is not a single nail in ancient wooden buildings. The “nailless” structures of the Arkhangelsk “lefties”, contrary to popular belief, were not at all the architectural “know-how” of the architects. Most likely, according to museum guide Tatyana, this is why building material the ancient Pomors refused solely for reasons of economy. A kilogram of iron in Russia at that time was many times more expensive than wood - about the same amount of logs that would be required to build a spacious peasant hut.
The exhibition includes more than 100 civil, public and religious buildings, the earliest of which date from the 16th and 17th centuries. To be sent to the museum, the exhibits were rolled out on logs and then reassembled on the territory of Malye Korel.
The museum was founded in 1964. In 1968, the first architectural monument was transported here - a mill from the village of Bor, Kholmogory district. Now the territory contains all types of Russian windmills - tents (Dutch windmills) and pillars, and there is also a water mill. The largest windmill was brought from the premises of the former Kozheozersky monastery; it greets visitors at the entrance to the museum.
By the way, the first visitor appeared here in June 1973. And today, more than 100 thousand Russian and foreign lovers of antiquities visit the museum every year.
The main task of the museum is to preserve for posterity the unique creations of folk architecture, to show the life and way of life of the Russian northern village of the past. The peculiarity of “Malye Korel” is that it was the first open-air museum in Russia, where the landscape-environmental method became the main principle for constructing the exhibition. That is, when creating it, architectural, historical, cultural characteristics villages from which monuments of wooden architecture were exported.
The exhibition is built on the principle of sectors, each of which represents a model of the most typical settlements for the Russian North with a traditional layout and a full range of residential and utility buildings. Each sector is a fragment of the village, where not only individual buildings are important, but also their mutual relationship with each other.
There are six sectors in total. In Kargopolsko-Onega, where the exhibition begins, the layout of the settlement is reproduced, with estates located around the square where the Ascension Church of 1669 stands and the bell tower from the village of Kushereka.
The Mezen sector represents the architecture of the northeast of the region. The villages were located here along the steep banks of the river. To strengthen them, retaining walls were cut down and wooden flooring was made on them. On these “embankments” they placed barns, glaciers, and baths closer to the water.
Between the Mezen and Pinega sectors there is a village of small huts, barns and a crane well. This is a seasonal settlement of Khornemskoe from the headwaters of the Pinega River. They lived in it in the summer, during haymaking or during forest cutting. The Pinega sector reflects the architecture and life of the Pinega basin, the largest tributary of the Dvina. The huts here are placed facing the sun, in “order”.
The largest and most architecturally diverse is the Dvinsky sector. Monuments from the vast territory of the Podvina region are presented here. On the central square is the St. George Church from 1672 from the village of Vershina. The iconostasis, made in the Baroque style, has been restored in the church.
The last two sectors – Pomeranian and Vazhskiy – are at the stage of exposition formation.
IN last years in the museum great attention is given to the creation additional services for visitors. Newlyweds can order a unique wedding ceremony in Pomeranian traditions, ride horses, play ancient folk games and fun, shoot archery, listen to the bells.
In Russia, bell ringing has always been part of folk life. The bells called people to the temple for prayer, showed the way to housing for a lost traveler, and saved ships in bad weather. Notable guests were greeted with the ringing of bells and major events were celebrated. Therefore, in the museum, any holiday begins with the ringing of bells. And for connoisseurs there is a unique exhibition “Northern Bells”. In 1975, Malye Korely were the first in the country to revive this ancient art.
On traditional Russian holidays, such as Maslenitsa or Christmas, events are held on the territory of the museum. folk festivals. The annual holiday cycle of calendar calendars has been revived here. national holidays and rituals, folklore festivals are held.
Arkhangelsk residents, especially young people, also love to come here. Only here you can see so many brides and grooms. It has already become a tradition - after laying flowers at the eternal flame in the center of Arkhangelsk, the newlyweds go to Malye Korely.
Sometimes you wonder why we Russians strive to go abroad? On the one hand, in winter we can bask on the famous beaches, and on the other hand, we come and begin to tell what sights we saw abroad. But we also have enough attractions in Russia and are not inferior to those abroad. Now we’ll talk about one attraction.
This museum of ancient architecture and folk art is located just 25 km from Arkhangelsk. Look into the distance and from all sides, you will see the main wealth of the northern land - taiga snow. From centuries-old pines and larches, craftsmen built huts and temples several centuries ago, which have survived to this day.
Many buildings from small villages created by the golden hands of unknown craftsmen have survived to this day as real masterpieces. Peasant architects from Rus' were professionals - already in the 16th century there were “chip” bazaars, where everything needed to build a house was sold. All that remained was for the master to collect the logs in the specified order and the hut was ready. Thanks to this skill, ancient architects were transported and collected to the museum on the banks of the Northern Dvina from the surrounding villages and hamlets.
Let's imagine a little, plunge into the time when these unique huts, bathhouses, barns, mills were created, in soaring tented churches and small chapels (they are called “dream churches”). Over the centuries, each settlement has developed its own peculiarities in the construction of wooden buildings! At first glance, the buildings looked similar to each other, but in fact they are all different.
We fantasized, we hear the sound of an axe, the conversation of the masters, and before our eyes a hut appears, which in our time has become part of the museum.
The territory of the museum is divided into six sectors: Karpolsko-Onezhsky, Severodvinsky, Mezensky, Pinezhsky, Vazhsky and Primorsky.
When you get here, the first thing you see is a snow-covered road running into the distance across a field. To the right of it is an ancient bell tower, to the left they placed their wings - windmills. And your path lies directly to the central square of Small Karelians. In the sector of the Kargopol-Onega Museum there is the Church of the Ascension. Newlyweds in every city in Russia have their own customs of traveling and taking pictures near their sights. And newlyweds from Arkhangelsk come here to take pictures against the backdrop of this beautiful building, decorated with intricate, openwork carvings. Around the square there are old estates. You need to pay attention to how the huts are built under the same roof with an outbuilding, the explanation is very simple - in the winter cold, both people and pets should be warm.
And it’s wonderful to continue this entire snowy path on a troika with bells, so that our fantasy and imagination will take us to the 16th century, so that for some moment we will be transported to that time.
The next sector of the museum is Mezensky. This sector contains the architecture of the northeast of the region. The layout here is completely different, because the entire settlement of the area was located on steep river banks. Reinforcement for buildings was built by special embankments-retaining walls with decking. The highlight of this part of the museum is the windmills. For its foundation, it is served by a pillar dug into the ground surrounded by a powerful log house (hence the name “pillar mill”).
The Pinega sector also had its own peculiarities of construction, and the peculiarity lies in the fact that, according to the ancient Slavic custom, the huts were built facing the sun “in order.” During construction, ancient masters thought through everything to the smallest detail. Even the high pillars on which the barn town stands were made so that rodents could not feast on grain reserves.
Well, the largest sector of the museum is Severodvinsk. Here we will see a large tented church - St. George's, built without one nail. Inside, the skeleton of the iconostasis in the Baroque style was restored. Outside the church we see a covered gallery (it was made for Gentiles and repentant sinners who came to the service). And around the temple we see how various monuments are located. Podvinia: peasant houses, barns, forges.
During the holidays, the wonderful sounds of chimes can be heard from the bell towers of Small Karelians. Unique collection bells and the exhibition "Northern Bells" is the legitimate pride of the museum. People come here to learn the difficult art of bell ringing, they organize music concerts. A common thing on the museum grounds is folk festivities. The holidays are bright and joyful: round dances are held around the huts, and all kinds of performances and games are organized. Suddenly we heard from afar the light ringing of bells and we are happy to see a painted sleigh approaching with three trotters. And nothing stops you from wanting to ride with the breeze along the snow-covered paths! Feel free to jump on the sleigh and move forward towards new adventures.
And how many wonderful places do we have in Russia like Malaya Karel! And I really want to visit these places and fall in love with the beauty of Russia even more.
It is difficult not to succumb to the charm of the Russian North. Was it not he who inspired the artist I. Ya. Bilibin, who created the visible world of Russians folk tales? Marvelous cities with stern watchtowers, peaked temples, quaint towers with porches and passages. And so I was lucky enough to be convinced that all this is not a fairy tale, not fiction, but the real reality of the museum-reserve. Here, in Malye Korely, as soon as you step onto the territory of the reserve, you find yourself in the distant past, in the world of brave Pomors, hunters, woodcutters, and cultivators.
IN THE PHOTO: Chapel of St. Macarius from the village of Fedorovskaya, Plesetsk district, 18th century. Small Karelians of the Argangelsk region
The Malye Karely Museum-Reserve occupies two wooded hills. It contains all types of wooden buildings typical of the North. One would like to call it an encyclopedia of Russian folk architecture. All exhibits - huts, barns, baths, mills, chapels, bell towers, utensils, tools, clothing and much more - were collected throughout the Arkhangelsk region in the most remote and inaccessible places. Of course, much of what was found and brought was in a rather deplorable state and now, restored, rejuvenated, it again gives joy to people with its shapes and colors.
IN THE PHOTO: Ascension Church from the village of Kusherek, Onega region (1669). Museum-reserve Malye Karely of the Arkhangelsk region.
The idea of saving monuments of folk architecture - transferring them to specially created open-air museums - is not new. It was first expressed by the Swiss scientist Charles de Bonstetten almost two hundred years ago. I really liked the idea, but then there was no further discussion. It took a hundred years for it to become a reality.
In 1872, the first in Europe was founded in Stockholm ethnographical museum in the open air, in 1901 a museum appeared near Copenhagen, in 1902 - in the vicinity of Oslo. This is how it arose in the Scandinavian countries new type museums.
The Skansen park museum in Sweden has gained worldwide fame. Its organizers pursued two goals: to preserve best samples folk architecture and demonstrate and popularize as fully as possible the riches of folk architecture. At Skansen, visitors get to know the history and culture of their country and at the same time can relax and have fun.
IN THE PHOTO: Trinity Chapel from the village of Valtovo, Pinega region, 1728. Museum of Malye Korely of the Arkhangelsk Region
The Malye Korely Museum is relatively young: the first exhibit - a mill from the village of Bor - appeared in 1968, and already in 1973 the museum was open to the public. Eighty hectares of the museum territory are divided into six sectors - according to the number of cultural and ethnographic zones of the Arkhangelsk region: Kargopol-Onega, Severodvinsk, Pinezhsky, Mezensky, Pomorsky and Vazhsky. In every zone settlements have their own characteristics. This is reflected in the museum's exhibition.
IN THE PHOTO: Malye Karely Museum-Reserve, mill
For example, the Mezen sector is allocated a site near a steep cliff to the Korelka River. The houses stand along the shore, as they were placed on the Mezen, where there was little land suitable for cultivation. That’s why the buildings were pressed against the shore so as not to occupy good land for housing.
In each sector-village, the architectural appearance of northern Russian villages has been skillfully and lovingly recreated, but this is not enough. The visitor sees a picture of the way of life of the past. Every detail is carefully thought out. Huts everywhere in the North were placed high above the ground, on a high utility basement - it’s warmer, it won’t get covered in snow in winter, and it’s convenient to store supplies under the floor. The utility yard is combined with the housing by a common roof, so in the harsh northern winter you don’t even have to go outside, except perhaps for water. With these general outline in each district of the region, housing was arranged in its own way, introducing some of its own details into the design; something of its own in the decorative design of the hut.
IN THE PHOTO: Poluyanov’s house-yard from the village of Gar, Kargopol district, 19th century. Museum of Small Karelians.
In the Kargopol-Onega sector, an interesting house from the village of Gar. This is an example of the oldest simple four-walled hut, the most common in Ancient Rus' type of dwelling. In such a hut, all the premises - residential and utility - are lined up one after another along the longitudinal axis, which is why this type is called a “timber hut”. It is extremely simple and complete. The residential floor with three windows is raised high above the ground on a blind basement. WITH inside The logs are smoothly hewn to the height of a man. The ceiling and floor are made of chipped plates. The logs were split using wedges, and then the surface of the board or block was hewn with an ax. A matrix beam runs across the hut under the ceiling, on which the ceilings rest. All furnishings, except the table, are traditionally built into the walls.
The house has a minimum of decorations: carved piers and water cannons, a skate and a chimney. Wooden chimneys with valves, or chimneys, through which smoke was released in smoking huts, are characteristic of the North. In central Russia, smoke was released through a door or window, which is less convenient. To enhance the draft, through holes were cut in the chimney of the most various forms, thus the chimney became one of the most decorative parts of the roof.
In the Severodvinsk sector you can see huts that are more advanced and more suitable for living. There are already huts here, divided by a chopped wall into two rooms, one of which is a cold room. These are five-wall huts. The six-walled house also has two living rooms, and between them an alley, a room between two log cabins, which was used as a closet or a canopy.
In Shchegolev’s hut from the Vychegda village of Irta, a large and elegant porch leads to the entryway. It has become the main element artistic composition street facade. The porch seems to invite you to enter the hut. Such porches not only marked the entrance, connecting the outside space with the inside, but were also the place where the ceremonies of meeting and seeing off guests took place. It was on the porch that the guest was given bread and salt. Considering this purpose, the porch was decorated especially carefully and skillfully.
IN THE PHOTO: A well with a wooden wheel, Malye Korely.
There are very large two-story huts in Malye Korely. The second floor had the same number of living spaces as below, but the rooms were unheated. The hut with a large Russian stove was located on the first floor. Such two-story houses were built with the expectation of large families, where grandfathers, fathers, sons and grandchildren lived together.
The mills fanned by the icy winds give the museum villages a special charm and picturesqueness. They are brought from different parts of the region and are very diverse. There are also pillar mills, in which a barn with wings rotates around an axial pillar. There is also a tent mill of later origin here. In these mills, the barn remains stationary, and only the end rotates.
IN THE PHOTO: Worship cross. Museum-Reserve Malye Korely
High-rise buildings attract attention museum complex- churches and bell towers. In the center of the Kargopol-Onega sector, the two-story Church of the Ascension from the village of Kushereka rises above the forest. This temple, built in the 17th century, culminates in a complex five-domed cube. The cuboid covering, kokoshniks, necks of the heads and the heads themselves are dressed in scaly clothes made of aspen fur. Nearby is a tented bell tower. Carved roof overhangs give beautiful game light and shadow on monumental walls.
In the Severodvinsk sector there is a forty-meter high Church of St. George, also XVII century. This building exudes solemn and heroic strength. Small chapels of simple and unassuming shapes are hidden in the greenery of the trees. Some of them differ from an ordinary barn only in the dome above the roof and a small gallery, while charming bell towers rise above others in the form of an octagonal turret.
You walk around the reserve and marvel at the talent of folk craftsmen, the power of the creative forces of the people. In the museum you can enter any house - the doors are hospitably open. The huts are neatly tidied, the pine walls, scrubbed with sand and sponges, shine with a honey yellow color, there are patchwork rugs on the floor, a broom handle near the stove, dishes on the shelf, a pot-bellied samovar on the table. It seems that the owners have left for a minute and are about to enter the upper room.
All household items in the hut are made with great artistic taste. The need for beauty has always lived in the northerners. They cared about the appearance of things no less than their daily bread. Whatever you take - spinning wheels, ladles, rollers for washing clothes - All these things would successfully fulfill their purpose even without bright, eye-pleasing painting or patterned carvings, but it is known that when wonderful beauty pleases the soul, the work goes better...
Here you can see hunting skis, peasant sledges with sides diverging from the front, wide sleighs with a seat, one-horse light carts, one-wheeled carts with drags (these are two-wheeled carts to which two logs are attached to the back. They dragged along the ground behind the cart , and when climbing uphill, when stopping, they rested on the ground, and the one-wheeler did not roll down). Each exhibit contains folk ingenuity, invention and artistic taste, especially clearly manifested in the decoration of the most noticeable part of the harness - the arch. They are so different: painted and carved, with copper plaques, with bells.
Since ancient times, it has been the custom that in the North, folk festivals and festivities were crowded and colorful. All festive events took place on a wide rural street, in a meadow, on the river bank. The entire population took part in them, there were no indifferent observers, and therefore laughter and animated conversation were heard from everywhere. Well, they always knew how to have fun on holidays in Rus': with bells, songs, dances, round dances, skating ice mountains and on threes. In Malye Korely, long-standing traditions have come to life, the museum has become a propagandist folklore works. The unity of place and action characteristic of ancient holidays is clearly manifested here.
Bell ringing is an integral part of the holiday. The small ones respond to the measured bass strokes of the bell, joining the roll call on the three bell towers of the museum. Sparkling, mischievous “Northern Bells” open folk festival. And this is no coincidence. Since time immemorial, the ringing of bells has accompanied people on life path. He convened a meeting and warned about the appearance of an enemy or other trouble. The bells have always been treated with great care serious attitude, almost like to animate objects. History remembers how a bell was sent into exile, the alarming ringing of which raised the people to riot in Uglich after mysterious murder Tsarevich Dmitry. And Empress Catherine II ordered the tongue to be torn out from the alarm bell of the Moscow Kremlin - its voice called for the uprising of 1771, known as the “plague riot”.
There were legends about the bells. They say that after the conquest of Novgorod Grand Duke Moskovsky ordered the veche bell, which had sounded over the free city for three and a half centuries, to be removed and transported to Moscow. When he, tied to a sleigh, was taken through the hills of the Valdai Hills, the bell did not want to leave native land. He jumped high, fell and broke into many Valdai bells. Their ringing reached us in thousands of echoes.
The bells were cast from great art, putting your whole soul into this business. They were decorated with intricate ornaments, brands, and inscriptions. Certain life situations its ringing corresponded: everyday, solemn, red, dancing, with a crimson chime. The selection of bells and the training of the bell-ringer were also important here. But during Easter week it was allowed to call anyone who wished. And then, “Kamarinskaya”, “In the garden or in the vegetable garden”, dance tunes and other cheerful holiday melodies were often heard from the bell towers throughout the entire district.
Twenty-three bells of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yaroslavl, Kharkov and local casting, as well as Dutch work, were hung on the three bell towers of the museum. At the top of the hill stands a mighty 16th-century tented bell tower from the Severodvinsk village of Kuliga-Drakovanovo. This ancient building of the museum-reserve is a slender tower with an open tier of bells, topped with a tent. The frame of the bell tower consists of seventeen vertically standing thick pillars: sixteen stand along the perimeter and one in the center. These pillars with outside up to the bell tier they are protected by an octagonal frame. The octagon does not start from the ground, but is placed on a kind of base - a quadrangle, which gives the bell tower greater stability and visually connects it with the ground. The tent covering of the rafter structure rests on the framing beam of the frame pillars and on the central pillar. The open parts of the pillars are decorated with carvings in the form of oval melons and plaits.
The bell tower's appearance resembles the watchtowers of ancient Russian wooden fortresses. This is understandable, because in ancient times, bell towers, in addition to their main purpose, also served as observation towers. Climbing to the bell tower from the village of Kuliga-Drakovanovo, you are convinced how far the entire area is visible. The Northern Dvina has overflowed widely and generously carries its waters into the White Sea. It stretches for more than seven hundred kilometers, and here, near the mouth, we see it in all its beauty and power.
For a long time, since the times of Ivan the Terrible and Peter I, timber was floated along this river to Arkhangelsk, the main port of the state, ships with tar, salt, ore and other riches of the North sailed. In the port, all this was reloaded into the holds of English, Dutch and other overseas ships. People settled along the river; they lived by the river and the forest. Here, among the forest, are one, two, three... villages of the reserve. To see them, it’s worth coming to Arkhangelsk.
address: 163502, Arkhangelsk region,
Primorsky district, Malye Karely village
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