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Folk Art of the Novgorodian Region

Works of folk art are always especially interesting as they reveal the soul of the people, outline their ideals of beauty, and vividly demonstrate peculiar local traits and habits.

Folk art of the Novgorod region is fully demonstrated in the Vitoslavlitsy Museum of Wooden Architecture. The permanent exhibition is open in a two-story building of the first quarter of the 19th century erected for Countess A. Orlova-Chesmenskaya. It is very festive and expressive. Woven objects, embroidery, costumes, items made of birch-bark and tree roots, paintings and wood carvings will give the visitor a good idea of the diversity of artistic crafts of the Novgorod village. Images of Boginya-Bereginya (Goddess-Protector), of the tree of life, horses and birds of paradise, reveal the symbolic foundation and the sacral essence of folk art.

The second exhibition - "Work and Festivals of the Novgorod Village" - is devoted to popular rituals of Russian peasants. Any event, however small - the birth of a child, christening, match-making, illness and death - was accompanied by a special ritual, developed in the ancient days and consecrated by tradition

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