by Oleksandr Zavalov
Many tourists who visit Kyiv for the first time enjoy its culture and architectural landmarks in the center of the city; however, Pyrohiv – the hidden gem of Ukrainian cultural heritage – often remains unseen. It is an outdoor museum experience like no other. It comprises a rare collection of the architecture of various kinds of Ukrainian national homes (українська хата). It is an outdoor museum located on a territory of about 3300 acres of land in Kyiv suburbs. When visiting Ukraine, I always go to this museum, and every time I discover new unexplored aspects of Ukrainian architecture. The museum features new expositions designed for tourists all of the time. Upon entering the museum, one can see а captivating endless sunflower field. My photo captures this beautiful view.
The variety of different styles of traditional folk architecture is fascinating. The museum has the largest collection of Ukrainian traditional homes grouped by regions. When I enter the museum, I feel that I have embarked on a journey into the past to discover more about the lifestyle Ukrainian people lived in small villages centuries ago. The large land territory of the museum helps to preserve the Ukrainian traditional folk homes. As I walk around its territory, the specially designed landscape allows to taste the atmosphere of Ukrainian traditional village. The museum has placed even many Ukrainian land mills to illustrate various aspects of the Ukrainian traditional lifestyle.
The museum even includes some modern homes (mid 20th century) of the Ukrainian village to portray a wide scope of Ukrainian traditional heritage, as a separate part of the museum. The traditional homes were brought there from all regions of Ukraine to establish this cultural atmosphere. This marks the uniqueness of this museum since there is no other place in the world that has so many Ukrainian traditional folk homes. Below is a picture of one style of a Ukrainian home with a thatched roof and a designed outdoor landscape with an apple tree and a traditional fence called (тин) in Ukrainian.
The Museum offers a variety of social events and serves Ukrainian cultural food like borscht, vareniki, and much more. Another fun aspect of the museum is that most of these homes are open to visit inside. Here is just one example of an inside of a Ukrainian home presented by Pyrohiv museum. The interior of a house has a traditional stove that was used to cook food, bake bread, and heat the house during the long and cold winter. During the summer the inside stove was not used; instead, women were preparing meals outdoors in an outside stove (see in the picture below). One of the corners was always decorated with Ukrainian traditional towels covering the family icons. These icons were often very old and bequeathed from generation to generation. Wooden benches were placed at the walls covered by specially decorated rugs. These homes were constructed in a unique way to maintain a special atmosphere inside (it was cool in summer and warm during the winter).
Here are some examples of other designs of traditional Ukrainian folk homes from different regions of Ukraine:
The museum has even some farm animals on its territory. Here is a picture of a horse near some Ukrainian homes on a field:
To present the traditional Ukrainian lifestyle the museum has placed several ancient Ukrainian churches. Here is an example of one:
In the next picture one can see the craft store outdoor collection of Ukrainian tableware that is handmade by various artists and sold at the museum:
The official website of the museum may be accessed on the following link:
https://pyrohiv.org.ua/pyrohiv/about/pro-muzey-pyrogiv