Poltava & Slobozhanshchyna Exposition at Pyrohiv
Cottages with carved ‘horse’ beam-ends, rich tiled stoves, a famed blacksmith’s forge and a communal granary of the 18th century — the museum’s eastern section.
Poltava & Slobozhanshchyna at Pyrohiv: Housing of the Cossack Land
Poltava land and Slobozhanshchyna form a historic-ethnographic region covering the Poltava and Kharkiv regions and parts of Sumy, Luhansk and Donetsk. Mass settlement of these lands began only in the early 16th century, with migrants from the Right-Bank and Left-Bank of Ukraine settling on ‘free lands’ — slobody, from which the name Slobozhanshchyna, or Sloboda Ukraine, derives. These lands coincide with the territory of five Cossack regiments of 17th–18th-century Slobozhanshchyna.
Beyond farming, the people practised many crafts and trades: fishing, leatherwork, brewing, pottery, orcharding, shoemaking, brasswork, and processing tar, resin and saltpetre. The exposition of the same name unfolds across the museum’s eastern section on about 4 hectares, where more than fifty buildings recreate the life and everyday culture of the land. The closely related cultures of the two regions are presented together.
Log and frame-and-log techniques characterise the local building tradition. Typical cottages have porches and galleries — roof overhangs carried on wooden posts — and are thatched ‘vnatrus’ with crushed straw. The timber walls of entryways and store-rooms are left uncoated, while cottage interiors are washed and often painted. Massive tiled stoves, combined with painting above the stove hood, dominate the interiors.
Among the sector’s monuments are rare specimens: an 1897 potter’s cottage with a workshop and wheel; the forge of the famed blacksmith Prokop Miakushka, who marked his works with his own stamp; and an 18th-century communal granary — a grain store built against famine that survived on Luhansk land into the collective-farm era.
Poltava & Slobozhanshchyna Sector Map
Sector map. The numbers on the map correspond to the monument list below.
Architectural Monuments of the Sector
Each building was relocated from a village of Poltava land or Slobozhanshchyna and recreates the everyday culture of the Cossack region.
Mid-19th C.
1. Cottage from Kuntseve
Built by the last owner’s grandfather in the mid-19th century. A layout typical of Poltava land — ‘two cottages through the entryway’ — in a log-and-frame construction ‘on podsyshky’: wickerwork below window level, logs above. Carved ‘horse’ figures adorn the ceiling-beam ends, and the walls are coated with red clay.
Early 20th C.
2. Smithy from Novi Sanzhary
It belonged to the famed blacksmith Prokop Miakushka, who marked his works with his own stamp. A single-chamber frame building: walls of wickerwork woven between oak stakes and coated with red clay. Inside are a forge stove, bellows, anvil and a trough for quenching metal.
Mid-19th C.
3. Cottage from Revazivka
A two-part cottage in the frame-and-log technique dominant in southern Poltava land: willow stakes with wicker and reed weaving coated in clay and straw. The wide roof overhang served as a canopy for a cart. The cottage was whitewashed up to eight times a year, and its towels are embroidered with blue thread dyed in reed broth.
Built 1896
4. Cottage from Shyshaky
A four-part log cottage. The names of the master builders, Shovkoplias and Temchenko, and the date of construction are carved into the ceiling beam. Walls of oak slabs up to window height, aspen above. The stove has a standing bench, its cornices washed in multi-coloured clays, with wall painting done by stamping dried plants.
Late 19th C.
5. Cottage from Lelyukhivka
A three-part cottage of a Cossack farmer with a gallery on round posts, facing ‘the sun with its face’. The parlour is richly adorned: a carved linden shrine niche, a carpet on the table, embroidered towels and a painted chest. The monumental four-tier stove of terracotta tiles was recreated by the master stove-maker P. Okhnal.
Built 1897
6. Cottage from Velyka Pavlivka
A five-part potter’s cottage with the date 1897 carved into its beam. The second chamber holds the master’s workshop with a potter’s wheel and drying shelves. The whole family worked together: the father shaped the vessels while wife and children painted them with bands, curls and dots.
Mid-19th C.
7. Cottage from Popivka
A farmer’s cottage of the developed ‘two-halves’ type with five rooms. Built of linden timber on oak posts and roofed with paired sheaves of rye straw. A curious detail is the smoke-duct ‘bovdur’: sausages and lard were smoked in it, and in winter, when snow buried the cottage, it served as the way ‘out into the world’.
Late 19th C.
8. Cottage from Bobrivnyk
A three-part cottage whose walls are painted in oils by a master from the neighbouring Cossack village of Yabluchne — by legend, the local deacon-iconographer. Dressed for a wedding: the ‘hiltse’ tree on the table, the wedding loaf, the bride’s attire on a pole and the sheepskin coat on the place of honour where the newlyweds were seated.
Late 19th C.
9. Cottage from Novookhtirka
A developed four-part dwelling type of Slobozhanshchyna — the ‘cottage with runduk’ porches: columned canopies on the front and side walls and fine lace-like carving. The roof is thatched with crushed straw ‘vnatrus’ — here rye was not threshed with flails but ‘rolled’ with stone rollers, so the straw could not be roofed in sheaves.
Late 19th C.
10. Cottage from Krasna Popivka
A two-part Slobozhan cottage with a gallery of carved columns. The stove is edged in blue — pigment made from willow ash or mallow flowers. The clay floor is outlined in black, with ‘curly’ sand drawings of flowers traced by the mistress while it was still damp. The shrine niche holds pottery from Yampil, Yevsuh, Izium and Valky.
18th C.
11. Granary from Lubianka
A communal grain store for a reserve supply against crop failure or fire. Every household contributed part of its harvest, with soldiers’ wives, widows and the frail given priority in receiving grain. According to village elders, it was built by an overseas merchant in the 18th century; the community later bought it out and moved it.
Visitor Tips for the Sector
Best Photo Angles
The cottage from Lelyukhivka with its gallery on round posts is the sector’s most photogenic building, especially from the porch side. The Novi Sanzhary forge with its wicker walls also looks fine in morning light.
Getting There from the Entrance
The sector occupies the eastern part of the museum, about 4 hectares: from the main entrance, follow the signs past the Polissya sector. A tour of all 11 monuments takes about 40–60 minutes.
Must-See Highlights
Step into the potter’s cottage from Velyka Pavlivka with its workshop and wheel, look for the blacksmith’s stamp on the forge’s works, and visit the 18th-century communal granary from Lubianka.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does Poltava housing differ from Slobozhan housing?
Poltava cottages are mostly log-built, with soft clay wall paintings and massive tiled stoves. Slobozhan cottages are more often frame-and-log, with columned ‘runduk’ porches and roofs thatched with crushed straw. The exposition presents both traditions side by side, just as they coexisted in real villages.
What is a gamazey, and why did villages need one?
A gamazey is a communal grain store: every household contributed part of its harvest to a reserve stock for times of crop failure, fire or disaster. Soldiers’ wives, widows and the frail had priority in receiving grain. The 18th-century granary from Lubianka is a rare surviving specimen.
Is a separate ticket required for this sector?
No, like all the museum’s expositions, the Poltava & Slobozhanshchyna sector is included in the standard admission ticket.