That’s a great idea to visit a museum when you need to think about something completely different from your work tasks.
And my advice in this case is:
Take a museum tour with historical explanations of many details and traditions.
We like this kind of rest with my husband. This year our holidays were in the Kosiv Museum of Folk Art and Life of the Hutsul Region in Ukraine.
Here are some points I found interesting.
Clothes Were Social Media
People always want to know if they can trust a stranger or be aware of him.
There was no social media or internet in the past to check facts, so their clothes told a lot about a person.
Is this man married? Is he rich or poor? How long has he been traveling?
Details of clothes gave information: hat, belt, coat, bag, or shoes.
Plates Tell About Family
Ceramic plates on the wall told about a good and wealthy life in this house.
Poor people used wooden stuff in their houses.
Ceramic were used in everyday life for its useful advantages rather than for aesthetics. I mean, milk keeps its temperature better in a clay jug.
With time, ceramic tableware craftsmen started creating a lot of decorative ceramic things for home decor, like vases, plates, flasks like pleskanec, decorative tiles for a stove, a Trinity candlestick, decorative sculpture, and many other amazing things!
There are a few types of ceramic decorative traditions in Ukraine. In this museum, you can see Kosiv Ceramics.
Kosiv Ceramics is awesome!!
It’s very popular nowadays. You can buy it like souvenir from this trip in one of the greatest market in Kosiv. But you should plan this kind of shopping, because this market is openуd on Saturday only.
That time we visited only the museum. And a journey to the Kosiv Market is on our travel wish list.
Wooden Stuff
Wooden stuff was made for practical purposes and with high quality – wooden spoons and plates, a Trinity candlestick or svichnyk-triytsya, a wooden bucket for milk and cheese.
It was used more often than ceramics because it was cheaper one.
Women used wooden chests as wardrobes.
Wooden stuff for everyday life was very simple. Nowadays, craftsmen create carved wooden boxes, frames, and decorative plates with complex techniques.
Interactive Tasks in Museum
As an interactive task, we tried with my husband to guess traditional motifs favored by Hutsul woodcarvers.
I liked the names of patterns:
- Plums
- Star
- Tear drops
- Hare’s ears
- Curls
- Rosette
- Hooks
- Ear of grain
- Head-shaped
- Ring-shaped bread
- Zigzag with ilchaste painting
It wasn’t simple task. But we were happy!
Hand-woven Carpets and Natural Dyes for Threads
It was interesting for me to see and try natural dyes for threads in this museum section.
You can get a color for carpets from different plants:
- Oak bark – various brown
- Elderberries – gray-brown shades
- Onion skins – ochre, golden, terracotta tones.
- Walnut husks – copper-brown tones.
- Turmeric – yellow -orange shades.
- Blueberries (afyny) – pink-brown hues.
- Hypericum -beige or orange tones.
- Oregano (materynka) – gray and olive threads.
The fabric was hand-made from linen or sheep’s wool. It’s a hard and long process.
It took a few days to create one hand-woven carpet.
Today’s demands and trends
Are Kosiv Ceramics popular nowadays? Yes! Absolutely!
You can bring it as a souvenir from your trip to the Ukrainian Carpathian Mountains.
Wonderful ceramic tea cups, plates, vases for everyday use, and other home decor will remind you of a good time of travel.
What about modern wooden tableware?
Some practical wooden products like spatulas and spoons for cooking, or cutting boards, are very popular nowadays.
Wooden barrels are used to make Ukrainian sheep’s milk cheese – bryndza.
“Hutsul sheep bryndza” is the first Ukrainian geographical indication that meets all European requirements for registration and is entitled to recognition in the EU.
What kind of chees with a protected geographical indication do you know?
Gorgonzola, parmesan, feta, camembert, and now Ukrainian bryndza.
It’s very tasty. You can try bryndza in many local restorans of Ivano-Frankivsk Region.
There are many masters and craftmen in hand-made ceramics, woodcravers and hand-woven carpets makers. They work, prepare masterclasses, and share their knowledge.
Masters share their knowledge. They don’t keep the secrets of their mastery as a mystery for selected students only like it was popular in the past.
That’s the key feature of modern Ukrainian Folk Art.
Final thoughts
Visiting a museum is a great way to take a real break when you’re used to being busy.
Changing environment and focusing on real things with history and sense help me forget about work tasks, routine, and wartime for a while.
Additionally, you can find inspiration in difficult and complex hand-made products and ceramics.
No doubt, a visit to a museum helps me recharge and be more productive because of focusing on absolutely other time, shared values, and stepping in everyday life of others’ people in the past.
P.S. The war is still going on in Ukraine.
Stand with Ukraine!
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