Ancient huts that smell of history ... Thatched roofs, wooden beams, small windows, wicker fences with jugs, water mill, wooden wells - here is the atmosphere of ancient Ukrainian villages, here you can fully immerse yourself in the days when people lived in silence and without the Internet and did everything with their own hands...
"Shevchenkivskyi grove" in Lviv. I have known this place since childhood, it is dear to my heart. Once upon a time, my sister and I went for a walk here with my dear parents. And on Easter Ukrainian traditional actions take place here. One summer, I brought here my daughters, who have never been to this cozy, colorful place, which gives peace, tranquility and joy and wealth of centuries of wisdom.
First, in front of the entrance you will see a statue of the great kobzar Taras Shevchenko, whose name is named museum. Crossing the front gate, you find yourself on a road that meanders between hills and tall spruces, opening before your eyes the amazing monuments of ancient architecture of the 18th - 19th centuries.
First we go to a beautiful old wooden church, which can be seen behind a wooden fence.
With the support of the Sheptytsky family, the Church of the Wisdom of God was moved to the territory of the modern Shevchenkivsky grove in the 1930s. In Lviv it was used for a Studite monastery. By the way, the students still live on the territory of the museum and take care of this church.
Often visitors come to Shevchenkivsky grove not so much as to a museum, but rather just for a walk. Walking between the old houses, which are located on 36 hectares of the museum, you can feel the atmosphere of past centuries, which is in every element here. This is, for example, a wooden well, and an ancient mechanism - a bucket on a long stick, which was to draw water from the well. It was called the "crane". Also, imagine, there is a real water mill, which was walking from the water in a small stream.
Nearby is a lake where swans and ducks swim, as well as a zoo, where storks, donkeys, deer and others settled. We had the courage to ride our little daughter on a horse. And it is so cozy to come here by the lake.
I was especially thrilled as I climbed to a very old church on the mountain. The Museum has seven temples, which is the largest selection of sacred architecture in the world's open-air museums.
The museum
was established on the ethnographic principle in 1971, in order to save the monuments of wooden architecture, household items and samples of folk art of all historical and ethnographic groups of Western Ukraine, formed in the late XIX - early XX century. These are Boykivshchyna, Lemkivshchyna, Hutsulshchyna, Volyn, Podillya, Polissya, Bukovyna, Pokuttya, Zakarpattia and Lvivshchyna. Each of them is dedicated to a separate sector of the microvillage. The houses are equipped with appropriate interiors, which gives visitors a complete picture of life, work and leisure of the inhabitants of the western Ukrainian village of the late XIX - early XX century. Today Lviv "Shevchenkivskyi grove" is one of the largest open-air museums in Europe.
Walking between the houses, you get the impression that you came to the village to your grandmother. Although even in the villages you can rarely see wooden houses with thatched roofs.
While walking, we saw a house near which straw dolls, toys and angels were swaying in the wind and dancing. Here visitors can attend a master class and learn how to weave angels from straw.
Most of the houses are open and have their "owners" - it's museum workers who are demonstrating ancient crafts. Here, for example, Mr. Igor, a local oilman, says that vegetable oil has been used not only as a food product in the past centuries, but also as a medicine and part of some rituals. In addition to sunflower, flaxseed oil was once common.
To make this oil, flax seeds were first ground into flour, which was then heated in an oven. Warm flour was collected in bags, which were placed under a special press and oil was squeezed out. By the way, in the oil house of the XIX century, which was brought to the museum from Skolivshchyna, there is a press, the concept of which was invented 3,000 years ago. I bought two bottles for myself because I really like linseed oil!
Then we move and on the way we meet a senior gentleman who plays an ancient kobza instrument. And on the hill you can see the house, which is distinguished by its carved handrails and inside there are many interesting elements of ancient life.
Five days a week, except Mondays and Tuesdays, museum workers open the doors to their estates to evaluate. At the beginning of the exhibition, Mr. Lubomyr shows musical instruments and conducts master classes for those who want to start the art of playing one of them.
And finally, I want to say that there in this last house, were demonstrated ancient tools that show the hard work of people in those days. For us it is history and exoticism, for them it was a difficult life. I remember my mother's stories of people carrying water on a rocker from afar.
They themselves wove threads and sewed clothes. They went to wash clothes on the river and it was all very difficult!
We found something and lost something. And we must appreciate today, which draws wisdom from the past ...
I think that the children here feel great among this wooden - straw kingdom of antiquity! Did you like our walk?