Dec/25

Winter in the Museum of the Russian North “Malye Korely”

No comments · Posted by Sergei Rzhevsky in Architecture, Regions, Travel

“Malye Korely” is an open-air museum-reserve of traditional Russian wooden buildings of Arkhangelsk Oblast located in a forested area near the village of Malye Karely in the Primorsky District of Arkhangelsk Oblast, 25 km south of central Arkhangelsk, near the right bank of the Northern Dvina River.

This museum covering an area of 139.8 hectares is a popular tourist destination in the region. It is one of the largest landscape exhibitions in Russia.

This museum is one of the few places where you can experience the unforgettable atmosphere of the old Russian North.

The museum’s exhibits include approximately 100 civil, public, and ecclesiastical buildings, the earliest of which date back to the 16th century (the bell tower from the village of Kuliga Drakovanova) and the 17th century (the Ascension Church from the village of Kushereka and the Church of St. George from the village of Vershina).

Exhibits include peasant and merchant huts, barns, wells, fences, windmills, a bathhouse, and more. “Malye Korely” on Google Maps. Photos by: Vladimir Lipetskih.

The museum was named after the village of Malye Karely, with the letter “a” in “Karely” replaced by “o.” This was done to ensure historical consistency with the Pomor dialects, which developed from the Old Novgorod dialect, in which names with the root “korel” were written and pronounced with an “o.”

The museum was founded by order of Valentin Alekseevich Lapin, chief architect of the Arkhangelsk Specialized Scientific Restoration Production Workshop, in 1964. It opened to visitors on June 1, 1973.

Since 1983, the museum has been a member of the Association of European Open-Air Museums. Since 1996, the Malye Korely Museum has been included in the State Register of Particularly Valuable Cultural Heritage Sites of the Peoples of the Russian Federation.

Interior exhibits highlight the skill of northern carpenters, how they fished, grew grain, ranched their farms, celebrated weddings, and more.

Malye Korely is a popular destination for holiday celebrations. Maslenitsa and Easter, New Year, Christmas, Bread Festival, Horse Festival, Haymaking, and Bell Ringing Day always attract a wide audience.

The Malye Korely grounds are quite large, so it’s best to plan at least a few hours to explore this open-air museum. You can stroll around the grounds during any of the museum’s opening hours, but the exhibits in the outlying buildings tend to close a couple of hours before the end of the day. The museum is so captivating that we recommend arriving early – you can easily spend half a day or even a whole day here!