The Open Air Museum of Wooden Art "Vitoslavlitsy"

The Open Air Museum of Wooden Art “Vitoslavlitsy” is not only a place for strolls, rest and fun-making. This is also an architectural and natural museum, which contains different types of surviving wooden churches: the hip-roofed (eight edges over four edges) Church of the Assumption brought here from Kuritsk (1595), the Church of the Virgin's Nativity from the Peredki village (1531), the multiple-tiered church of Nikola from the Vysoki Ostrov (1767) and the Church of St. Nicholas from the Tukhol village (1688).All in all a territory of just 30 ha accommodates 22 monuments. They give the visitor a good idea about traditions of the old life in different districts of Novgorod, varying from one another by natural conditions, economic activities, building traditions and some elements of spiritual culture.Long ago, in the 12th century, the small village of Vitoslavlitsy was situated here, on the way between Novgorod and the Yuriev monastery. Many other small monasteries like the Panteleimonov, the Annunciation monastery, the Arkazhsky etc., were located close by. Neither the village, nor the majority of the monasteries have survived (the only exception is the Annunciation monastery), but the historical landscape remained intact - all those meadows, lakes, and streams which proved to be so attractive that in 1960 this place was chosen for the creation of an open-air museum.Here you’ll get a possibility to visit a real Russian house “Izba” like it was originally designed. Inside the izba, among dozens of artifacts, including furniture, utensils, expressive "trifles" like wrought-iron stands for torches, painted cabinets, spinning wheels and village "red"-icons you can have a little rest, look around, wondering at the simplicity of life in the old days and speculating how such a tiny space could accommodate a huge family, take a peek at the polati (a space on the large Russian stove) where children usually slept, try on the original lapti (shoes made of Birch-bark), or pose in front of a camera next to the hospitable mistress of the house.