Sloboda Motifs. Ethnography of the Region

The exhibition opened in September 2010 and is devoted to the unique and distinctive ethnographic heritage of Sloboda Ukraine. It helps visitors immerse themselves in the atmosphere of old times and take an interesting journey into the past of our region, which became home to people from different parts of Ukraine and Russia. The spiritual and material culture they created, which developed and improved over many centuries, is an inexhaustible source of folk wisdom and talent.

The exhibition covers a broad range of ethnographic subjects and acquaints visitors with the history of Sloboda Ukraine, the distinctive beauty of its traditional architecture, material and spiritual culture, the song and musical world of the local population, and their main occupations, customs, traditions and rites. Materials on these themes are presented in reconstructions of a peasant farmstead, interiors of a house, a men’s workshop, and a corner for weaving and embroidery. It is these objects, made by the hands of craftsmen, that are typical and characteristic of our region and vividly illustrate the spirit, tastes and skills of the Sloboda people.

A significant place in the exhibition is given to one of the main components of ethnographic culture — the peasant home, since it played an important role in every person’s life and was, as it were, the centre of the Universe for them. Visitors can see the internal layout of a peasant home: the “pokut”, the holy corner with icons; the “working corner” with the stove, dishes and household items; and a place for eating and rest.

The exhibition presents many examples of women’s crafts — weaving and embroidery. They include numerous elements of Ukrainian and Russian folk dress of the 18th–19th centuries, which vividly reflect the cultural and everyday contacts of the Sloboda people and characterise the tastes and industriousness of the women of our region. Visitors can see home-made shirts, plakhta skirts and kersetka vests, and a true work of art — the yupka, which was approved by French fashion designers as early as the 19th century. The exhibition also has unique additions to the costume — women’s jewellery of the 18th–19th centuries: ducats, earrings, glass and coral beads.

Special attention in the exhibition is given to the various embroidered towels (rushnyky) — the most important talismans of the Sloboda people, which accompanied a person throughout life in joy and in sorrow. They were an indispensable attribute of folk life and rites and a traditional adornment of the peasant home. The embroidery on a towel indicates its purpose (“vtyrach”, “kilkovyi”, “bozhnyk”, wedding and so on).

The great creative ingenuity and imagination of the men of our region are shown by the products of Sloboda bootmakers, potters, blacksmiths, glassmakers, carpenters and coopers. Among them is a remarkable, filigree-worked set of Ukrainian peasant tableware, made by Sloboda craftsmen, which won first prize at the Paris exhibition in 1888.

The rich variety of ethnographic materials presented in the exhibition is an important source of the historical and cultural heritage of the Sloboda land, an example of folk creativity and talent, and a bearer of historical memory.