Vitoslavlitsy is a Novgorod Museum of folk wooden architecture located near Yuryev Monastery, a few kilometers from Veliky Novgorod, on the southern shore of Lake Myachino.
The name “Vitoslavlitsy” comes from the village of Vitoslavlitsy, which existed here from the beginning of the 12th to the 18th century.
Around 1187, the village was transferred by the Novgorod prince Izyaslav Mstislavich to his brother.
In 1207 it became a monastic settlement at the Panteleimon Monastery.
In the first half of the 19th century, Countess A. A. Orlova-Chesmenskaya settled here, who bought this land from the landowner Semevsky.
Her house, designed by the architect Karl Rossi, has been preserved.
June 5, 1964, is considered the founding date of the Vitoslavlitsy Museum. The creator of the museum is Leonid Krasnorechev.
The open-air museum began its work on May 16, 1967.
It includes the most ancient wooden architectural monuments of the 16th century in Russia and residential and industrial buildings of the 18th-19th century.
The Church of the Assumption of the Mother of God from the village of Kuritsko, built in 1595, was the first to be transported here.
The first hut transported to the museum was the log house of M. D. Ekimova from the village of Ryshevo.
The Vitoslavlitsy Museum is also a platform for mass folk festivals in the traditions of pre-revolutionary Russia, promotion and support of folk arts and crafts.
The whole complex is part of the Novgorod State United Museum-Reserve (NGOMZ).
In 2017, within the framework of the joint project of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, “Preservation and Use of cultural heritage in Russia,” a comprehensive restoration of museum objects and landscaping of the territory with the restoration of the historical landscape of the manor park was launched.
In July 2019, the museum opened a new exhibition, “The Iconostasis of the Church of the Assumption from Nikulino Village, Lyubytinsky District,” created in 2015.
