Museum of the History of the Cossacks. Ilovlinsky Museum of Culture and Life
D iorama of a Cossack village of the 18th century, a museum created by Mikhail Sholokhov, personal sabers of atamans, rare recipes of traditional cuisine... We invite you to get acquainted with the history of the Cossacks in the museum halls.
Novocherkassk Museum of the History of the Don Cossacks
The very first Cossack museum is located in Novocherkassk - it was opened in 1899. The Ataman House, a branch of the museum, was the center of the military life of the Cossacks, and now it is an architectural monument. Once upon a time Alexander II, Alexander III and Nicholas II came here. The exhibition contains unique examples of edged weapons of the 18th–19th centuries, clothing, regimental and award banners, orders and medals of the Cossacks and personal sabers of Ataman Matvey Platonov and Emperor Alexander I.
Museum of the History of the Don Cossacks
The main cultural attraction of the village of Kletskaya in the Vologda region is considered to be the Museum of the History of the Don Cossacks - here 40 years ago Sergei Bondarchuk filmed a film based on the novel by Mikhail Sholokhov “They Fought for the Motherland.” In one of the six halls of the ancient merchant mansion, the interior of a traditional Cossack upper room of the late 19th - early 20th centuries with original utensils, costumes and weapons has been restored. Another exhibition tells about the poet, author of the story “Cossack Confession” Nikolai Kelin, a native of the village of Kletskaya. A separate room is dedicated to Vasily Shukshin, the leading actor in the film adaptation of Sholokhov’s novel.
Starocherkassk Museum-Reserve
The village of Starocherkasskaya is associated with the names of three famous Cossacks: they say that Stepan Razin was born in this village, Emelyan Pugachev often came here, and Kondraty Bulavin died here. The idea to create a museum in the village belonged to the writer Mikhail Sholokhov: the writer personally sent a letter to Brezhnev with a request to open an exhibition in Starocherkassk. Valuable exhibits of the museum include a portrait of Ataman Matvey Platov by the artist Tropinin, a wedding headdress of an 18th-century Cossack woman and a personalized saber that Elizaveta Petrovna gave to the Don Cossack Andrei Rakov in 1749.
Museum of the History of Don Folk Culture, Crafts and Life
The branch of the Volgodonsk Ecological-Historical Museum - the Museum of the History of Don Folk Culture, Crafts and Life - introduces the history of the Don Cossacks, as well as the trades and crafts of the Don land. Here you can see furniture, icons, weapons, carpets and clothing from the century before last. One of the oldest exhibits in the museum is a terracotta stove from the 18th century. The museum is located in the Cossack Kuren, an architectural monument of the 19th century. “Kuren” means “round house” - all the halls here can be walked around in a circle.
Levykinsky Cossack town
On the territory of the former Levykinskaya village, an entire Cossack town of the 16th–17th centuries was recreated. During this period, the village was the center of the Khoper Cossacks. Here is the “Cossack circle” - a place for military councils, the village hut - the building of Cossack self-government, a chapel, dugouts and semi-dugouts - the first dwellings of the Cossacks. The territory of the town is surrounded by a palisade with watchtowers, a guardhouse and a cannon. The museum hosts master classes in pottery, blacksmithing, as well as wicker weaving and making traditional toys.
Department of Cossack History
The Department of the History of the Cossacks is part of the Stavropol State Museum-Reserve. The museum halls show the interior of a Cossack's house, handicrafts, icons, ancient editions of the Bible and Book of Hours. The museum collection contains a unique collection of checkers and daggers of the 19th century, firearms and award weapons, and also exhibits the uniform of the Terek and Kuban Cossacks for military service and riding. In the center of the exhibition is a diorama of the village of Stavropol - a reconstruction of the appearance of the city at the end of the 18th century.
Chernyaevsky Museum of the History of the Amur Cossacks of the Amur Region
The history of the Amur Cossacks begins with the campaign of Erofei Khabarov: in 1649, the first Russian settlement was founded on the Amur - the Albazinsky fort, but the Cossack army in these places was formed only in 1858. The Chernyaevsky Museum contains personal belongings of the Cossacks, historical photographs, uniforms, weapons, badges and stripes. A separate exhibition is dedicated to the history of the family of Georgy Shokhirev - the first ataman of the revived Amur Army, a descendant of the pioneer settlers of the village of Chernyaev and the initiator of the creation of the museum. The exhibition includes a family relic of the Shokhirevs - an icon of the Kazan Mother of God.
Museum of Cossacks of the Farm Cossack Society "North-Western Kuren"
The exhibition of the Krasnodar Cossack Museum tells not only about the historical past of the Cossacks, but also about their modern life. The museum's collections contain photographs, books, weapons, ancient maps of the Kuban region, equipment, clothing, as well as paintings from the early 20th century and paintings by contemporary Cossack artists. The museum studies the Cossack technique of using short weapons and the history of Cossack cooking - recipes for traditional Cossack cuisine from the beginning of the last century are restored here.
Ilovlinsky Museum of Culture and Life
A small museum in the Volgograd region is located in the estate of a middle peasant Cossack of the late 19th - early 20th centuries. Among the reconstructed buildings are a traditional Cossack house - a kuren, a summer kitchen, stables, a pottery workshop and utility rooms. In the museum you can taste traditional Cossack dishes and drinks - thick fish soup sherbu, kanysh pie, ushnik stew, sweet porridge kulaga, mead and broth.
Museum employees demonstrate Cossack rituals - “seeing off a Cossack for service” and “Cossack wedding”.
Local History Museum of Prokhladny
The city of Prokhladny in Kabardino-Balkaria grew out of the Cossack village of the same name Prokhladnaya - the center of the Terek Cossacks. The museum has recreated the interior of a Cossack room; there are rare irons and pitchforks - the tools of Cossack women - as well as traditional Cossack weapons - a saber and a whip. The exhibition tells about the military service of the Terek Cossacks and introduces them to traditional clothing: Circassian coat, boots, hat-cap and beshmet shirt.
In 1996, a museum of the history of the Cossacks was opened at Municipal Educational Institution Secondary School No. 11. The purpose of creating the museum was to preserve the richest material about the inhabitants and history of the village of Galyugaevskaya, to develop high morality, hard work and patriotism in our children.
Initially, the museum was created as a museum of the history of the Cossacks. But it soon became clear that such a framework was too small for him, and two more halls appeared - military and labor glory. The Hall of Labor Glory is equipped with a computer, multimedia projector, TV, DVD player and music center.
Cossack roots
To begin with, teachers, schoolchildren and village residents reconstructed the history of Cossack life piece by piece. How did the Cossacks even appear on the Terek? It is known that Cossacks are free people. The word is translated from Turkic - “free, free”. Well, some researchers believe that Cossacks have been settling on the Terek almost since the 10th-11th centuries. When it came close to the Caucasus, by decree of the Empress in 1770, in order to strengthen the borders of the Russian state, Cossacks from the Volga and Don were resettled here. The Azov-Mozdok defensive line began to be created.
One of its outposts was the village, founded on the place where the convoy team of 16 people of the sixth hundred of the Mozdok regiment initially settled. The Cossacks delivered official letters, escorted travelers and mail, and patrolled the border. They built the first watchtower and goltepas (houses).
As for the name, everything is surprisingly simple. Since ancient times, there was a lake here, which was called in Ukrainian “Kalyuga” - a puddle, the lake was located next to the forest, in Ukrainian “gai”. This is how Kalyugai turned out. Subsequently, the letter “k” was pronounced and the village began to be called Galyugai.
In the Terek Valley, the Cossacks planted orchards and vineyards, took up livestock raising, and a little later - farming. A new life has begun for the new village. The Cossacks were hardworking. They said that “work creates wealth, but laziness creates foolishness.” Girls were taught to do needlework from an early age. Therefore, the museum has many exhibits created by the hands of Cossack women. These are embroidered paintings, towels, cufflinks (aprons).
Studying the traditions and customs of the Cossacks gives schoolchildren, especially girls, real pleasure. The exhibition “Cossack Handicraftswomen” presents the works of grandmothers and great-grandmothers of current students. This is embroidery in various techniques: cutwork, colored and plain, one-sided and double-sided satin stitch, cross stitch (simple and Bulgarian). Cossack women embroidered not only utilitarian items (pillowcases, curtains, bedspreads, tabletops), but also paintings (portraits, still lifes, landscapes and subject paintings).
These exhibits make many girls want to become skilled craftswomen themselves. At school technology lessons they learn to sew and embroider. And the 10th grade students chose for themselves a special course “Artistic processing of fabric”.
The study of the traditions and customs of the Cossacks occupies a leading place in our work. Over the past years, considerable material has been accumulated about the life of our ancestors. In the hall of the history of the Cossacks, an exposition of the decoration of a Cossack hut of the early 20th century was created. Her decoration was her bed. Look, it stands in a place of honor in our museum.
Nearby there is a stove with pots, chapels and a poker - the main attribute of the hearth. And a chest. He was in every house. Wooden ones - without drawings - were found among the poor, forged and painted ones - in the houses of the rich.
On display in the school museum are spinning wheels and combs, a unique chopped dough trough, and a ruble for ironing clothes. And also swag for pickling cucumbers, tomatoes, cabbage.
The pride of the school museum is the prayer “Our Father” in drawings published in 1871. There is also a mystery exhibit. This is a photograph of the Tsar, surrounded by his relatives and military leaders, he is receiving a parade of Cossacks (possibly in). It is unknown who is in the picture. But there is an assumption that the photograph was presented to one of the Galyugaev Cossacks for special services to the Tsar and the Fatherland.
Oh war!..
This fully applies to the military-patriotic section of the museum. Both adults and young local historians are convinced that they have no right to forget either the Great Patriotic War, or the wars in Afghanistan, etc.
The Great Patriotic War did not bypass their native village. 600 sons, husbands, fathers were escorted to the front by the Galyugaevites, 293 families did not receive their relatives: some died in fierce battles, some went missing.
And in the village itself during the occupation, both young and old fought against the Nazis. Young heroes Vanya Brazhnenko and Fedya Sherstobitov helped the scouts and partisans, providing them with information about the enemy’s movements. Vanya Brazhnenko was shot by the Nazis in front of the village residents. Fedya fell into the clutches of the Nazis twice. The first time he managed to escape. The second time the Nazis brutally beat the boy and tried to bribe him, but he did not betray the partisans. The Germans took Fedya away and shot him along with other partisans. The streets of the village are named after the young heroes.
Another interesting exposition of the school museum is military documents found as a result of search work and donated to the museum by residents. In the hall of military glory of the school museum, meetings with participants and witnesses of the war are often held. After such meetings, schoolchildren began to want to talk about their grandparents. Therefore, the museum is now accumulating material about children of war in the section “Childhood scorched by war.”
A special place in patriotic education is occupied by the popularization of state symbols. In the foyer of the school there is an exhibition “Symbols of the Fatherland”, where not only coats of arms and flags are presented, but also the symbols of the school - the coat of arms and flag. Both students and teachers were involved in the development of school symbols. They created a law on school symbols. And today not a single event is complete without these solemn symbols.
"Labor" is a proud word
The labor achievements of fellow villagers are also reflected in the museum materials. In the Hall of Labor Glory there are stands: “Pages of History” (about the history of the creation of the collective farm), “Veterans of the collective farm system”, “We should be proud of them” (about the order bearers), “Dynasties of grain growers” (about the dynasties of the Kizilovs, Komarovs, Kalitvinovs, Kolpikovs ), "Home Front Workers". Material has also been collected on the development of education in the village and teacher dynasties. Of course, it is interesting to see original documents: diplomas, personal files of teachers, certificate of education from 1916, school passport from 1947-1950.
A special place among the materials of the school museum is occupied by the history of the student production team named after. It was created one of the first in the area in 1957. Members of the brigade were engaged in livestock farming - they raised rabbits, pigs, ducks, worked in the garden and vineyards, grew grains, vegetables, melons and even cotton.
However, this museum has long since moved beyond the school building. Young local historians conduct excursions to the memorable places of the village. The guys also collaborate with local history museums and. For the local history museum of the regional center, the school's search teams, for example, collected Cossack household items. And in 1998, they collected material about a resident of the village, Grigory Ivanovich Yagodkin, a soldier in the Russian tsarist army, who was awarded an Easter egg for his bravery on the battlefield. The relic was donated to the local history museum. In the local history museum there is an exhibition about the life of the Cossacks, the decoration of a Cossack house, during the creation of which old residents of the village provided consulting assistance.
The school museum has become a symbol of the Fatherland. And this is the most correct direction in educating today’s Galyugaevites. Education in the spirit of preserving and enhancing cultural and historical heritage.
The Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation has decided to create a Central Museum of Russian Cossacks on Izmailovsky Island by 2020. The museum will be created on the basis of the collection of the State Historical Museum. The permanent exhibition of the Museum of Russian Cossacks is planned to be located in the southern building of the Military Almshouse for veterans of the Russian-Turkish Wars and the Patriotic War of 1812, built in the mid-19th century. Agree, it is tempting to have a high-level museum in the Eastern District, almost within walking distance.
The southern building of the Military Almshouse was built according to the design of the architect Konstantin Ton, the author of the designs for the Cathedral of Christ the Savior and the Grand Kremlin Palace.
The creation of a museum of Russian Cossacks will be one of the main events in preparing the historical museum for the 150th anniversary of its founding. The State Historical Museum claims that they have plenty of exhibits related to the history of the Cossacks. According to the most conservative estimates, more than 800 museum objects are stored in the storerooms. For example, Cossack awards (certificates, ladles and sabers, medals and orders), weapons, uniforms and banners, paintings and graphics, memorial items. All of them will be located on an area of 600 square meters. m. The museum itself will occupy twice the area, since most of the premises will be occupied for administrative and economic needs, as well as for educational events.
The presentation of the museum concept took place at the VI St. Petersburg International Cultural Forum, which took place in November 2017. Thus, the Central Museum of Russian Cossacks will become the second cultural institution created by the State Historical Museum on the basis of its own collections.
According to available information, on February 28, a meeting will be held at the Izmailovo museum-estate to discuss the placement of a new military cultural and educational center. Agree, it is tempting to have a high-level museum in the Eastern District, almost within walking distance.
For information, there are two museums on Izmailovsky Island: a branch of the State Historical Museum and the Museum-Reserve, which unites the estates of Kolomenskoye, Izmailovo and Lyublino.
What do the Cossacks have to do with it?
Someone will ask, what do the Cossacks have to do with it? Indeed, for residents of Izmailovo and history buffs, Izmailovo Island is, first of all, associated with the name of the Romanov Tsars and, most of all, with the first Russian Emperor Peter I. And Peter I, by the way, did not discount the problems of the Cossacks and carried out a number of reforms that changed the situation of the Cossacks . He was the first of the sovereigns to visit the Cossack regions.
In 1695, during the Azov campaign, Peter abolished the ancient Don law, which prohibited arable farming on pain of death. And he changed the organizational structure of the Cossacks. To strengthen the southern borders, he streamlined the service of the suburban Cossacks. The Kharkov, Izyum, Sumy, Akhtyrsky, and Ostrogozhsky Sloboda regiments were created, and a five-hundred-strong Chuguev team was formed.
During the Northern War, in 1701, the first cavalry regiment was created on the Don; before that time, regimental structures did not exist among the Don. However, the relations between the reformer tsar and the Cossacks were not at all simple. During his reign, a number of uprisings broke out under the leadership of the Cossacks.
It’s not just random people who work at the State Historical Museum. They know the history of the Russian state, continue to study it in detail, see the temporal and geographical connections of various events, as well as their cause-and-effect relationships. And of course, museum staff promote their knowledge, including by creating new exhibition spaces.
Elena Surikova
Starotitarovskaya village attracts tourists with its Cossack flavor. For those who want to touch the historical past of the inhabitants of the Cossack farm, the Museum of the History of the Cossacks was founded.
In 1992, the Museum of the History of the Cossacks was created in the oldest Cossack village of Starotitarovskaya. Its founder was Olga Pogiba, a teacher and local historian. Currently, it is a state museum located in an ancient building that was built at the beginning of the 20th century.
Tour of the museum
The Museum of the History of the Cossacks consists of four halls. Two houses exhibits that represent the rich history of the Zaporozhye Cossacks, who founded the village in 1794. Here you can look at authentic Cossack household items, tools, clothing, precious jewelry, musical instruments, and documents. The exhibition was not complete without weapons - sabers and knives that belonged to the village residents were put on public display.
The next room is dedicated to the times of the Great Patriotic War. From September 1942 to October 1943, the Starotitarovskaya village was occupied by German invaders. She was one of the central points of resistance. During the occupation, more than half of the population died. This room is called “War and Fate”. It honors the memory of the village heroes who laid down their lives for the liberation of their native land.
The huge country repaid its creators - the Cossacks - with black ingratitude
There are many museums on the Don that tell about the history of the Cossacks, but the Museum of Cossacks Abroad in is perhaps the most unusual. He talks about Russia, which we lost, about millions of our compatriots who could have brought good to their country, but were forced to wander in a foreign land. You and I will walk through the halls of this museum.
MEMORY OF THE EXILES
On the banks of the old riverbed of the Don lies this Cossack farmstead. A small church with outwardly discreet architecture. In the courtyard is a Cossack boat found during excavations. A well frame and a cart wheel are simple attributes of Cossack life. But the main thing is the museum: two floors, two galleries, three halls filled with unique exhibits. And also an archive, a library, a classroom and a chapel. “There is no such museum anywhere else in the world!” - says its creator, Rostov resident Igor Vladimirovich Semenov.
The idea had been brewing for a long time, but the idea was brought to life on September 12, 2005, when the Second World Cossack Congress was held on the Don. Cossack emigrants and descendants of villagers who left Russia at the end of the Civil War took part in the laying of the stone. They live in different countries of the world: France, USA, Canada, even Australia. But the Don is still considered their homeland.
Many of these Cossacks subsequently donated family archives and relics to the museum. And, as I.V. especially notes. Semenov, the creation of this museum would have been impossible without the active work of the director of the non-profit foundation “Cossack Abroad” Konstantin Nikolaevich, who has been collecting historical materials for 30 years, and today maintains correspondence with hundreds of respondents around the world, is engaged in research, publishing, and public activities.
The project of the Intercession Metochion, together with the museum, was developed at the Patriarchal Architectural and Restoration Center of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra by a large group of specialists (which included Rostov architect Artur Tokarev). The designers were given the task of creating the architectural appearance of the Don Cossacks. As a result, the Church of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary was built in memory of the Cossacks who rested in a foreign land, and a museum complex, the exhibition of which cannot leave the visitor indifferent.
CREATORS OF THE EMPIRE
Immediately at the entrance, the visitor sees a huge colorful map of the Russian Empire that existed before 1917. The coats of arms of eleven Cossack troops are fixed on it, which over the course of several centuries expanded the borders to one-sixth of the earth's land.
We considered it necessary to visually confirm the truth of the words of the great Russian writer Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy that “the history of Russia was created by the Cossacks.” Vast territories from the Voronezh steppes to the Caucasus ridge, Little Russia, the Urals, Semirechye, Altai had by that time become primordially Cossack lands. The Cossacks independently took Astrakhan by storm, opening the Muscovite kingdom access to the Caspian Sea, Transcaucasia and Turkestan. Siberia and the Far East, the territory up to Alaska, were also conquests of the Cossacks for the Russian Empire, says Konstantin Khokhulnikov, who undertook to give a tour of the museum.
Cossacks of various troops are also represented here: Donets, Cossacks, Uralians, Terets... It was not for nothing that stripes, shoulder straps, cockades, and other signs of military distinction became elements of the national clothing of the Cossacks: after all, their main task was considered to be military service in the Russian Empire. Therefore, village residents were completely exempt from taxes. And they even began to engage in farming only after the permission of Empress Catherine the Great.
GREAT MISSION
The history of Russia in modern times is full of tragedy and contradictions. The imperial superpower that entered the Great War in 1914 found itself defeated, fragmented, and torn apart by a fratricidal Civil War. Much more significant than the territorial losses for the country were the human losses. The Bolsheviks mercilessly destroyed or expelled class alien classes from the country. And among them the first place was occupied by the Cossacks. It is not for nothing that the policy of “decossackization” was adopted in January 1919 by a special decree of the Soviet government.
We still have to understand and comprehend the historical mission of the Cossacks. I believe that by 1914 the Cossacks had completed the task of creating a huge empire. From that moment his sacrificial journey on the cross began. We tried to reflect its main milestones in the exhibition,” says Igor Semenov.
After the surrender of Rostov in January 1920, and the bloody battle near the village of Yegorlykskaya, where forty thousand red and white Cossacks fought on horseback on both sides, the Bolsheviks won the Civil War in the South of Russia. Together with the Volunteer Army, the Cossack units crossed to Crimea, and from there, in November 1920, they went into final exile to a foreign land.
Refugee camps in Turkey, the windswept Greek island of Lemnos - tens, hundreds of thousands of Cossacks went through such a thorny outcome. They moved to live in Europe, and were warmly received by many countries. The “Russian Action” was organized in Czechoslovakia, during which more than a thousand young Cossacks received higher education in educational institutions of this country.
France, which lost more than a million men during the First World War, willingly accepted the Cossacks, and hoped to fill the demographic niche with immigrants from Russia - intelligent, hardworking, and able to fight.
Indicative in this regard is the fate of Nikolai Turoverov, a member of the partisan detachment of Colonel Chernetsov, one of the few Cossack volunteers who survived the battle with the Reds near the village of Glubokaya. Once in France, Turoverov enlisted in the Foreign Legion. He fought in Africa with locals and tribes, and with the beginning of World War II - with the Nazis. He was awarded French orders and medals for his bravery. And Nikolai Turoverov became one of the best poets of the Russian abroad.
EDUCATE YOUTH
A complex impression remains after walking through this museum. There are a lot of photos here. People in Cossack uniforms, tailcoats and tuxedos. Beautiful women in evening dresses. Cossacks, for whom a land foreign to their parents has become their homeland. These people achieved success far from the Motherland that expelled them. These are our compatriots whom Russia lost.
Among the emigrants there were a lot of educated, talented people, and the desire to survive in difficult circumstances activates human abilities. Cossack emigrants distinguished themselves in culture, science, and military affairs. Among them were outstanding engineers, doctors, and travelers. Most of them were devoted in soul to their lost homeland, but understood that returning to the USSR would be tantamount to a death sentence. Those who returned immediately ended up in camps,” Konstantin Khokhulnikov continues the story.
Now one of the activities of the Cossack Abroad Foundation is the publication of the literary and journalistic heritage of our compatriots abroad. Original manuscripts, journals and books are also kept in this museum. As well as personal belongings, photographs of these people.
There is no free entry to the Museum of Cossack Abroad yet, but we have started working with schoolchildren. Representatives of the regional Ministry of Education came here, they gave recommendations for the creation of an educational and methodological complex on the basis of the museum. Based on our exposition, 30 historical themes have been developed that are intertwined with 15 Orthodox themes. “Everything we do is ultimately intended to educate the younger generation,” says the head of the museum, Igor Vladimirovich Semenov.
This museum simply needs to be visited to understand how special a path Russia had in the 20th century. And in order to understand the place in which Russia finds itself in the coming century...