The Hospitable House of Grandma Maria Village Life and Village History Museum

The presentation and opening of this museum took place on October 3, 2010. The Village Life Museum “Grandmother Maria’s Hospitable House” is called to museumify one of the last pieces of the Khvoschevatka village ancient life in the Ramonsky district of the Voronezh region: a memorial izba (cottage) from the beginning of the 20th century, and the estate, where a peasant family of Parthenovs, the indigenous inhabitants of the village, lived for more than a hundred years.

The main feature of the “Hospitable House” is that it is a family project in which the descendants of the grandmother Maria, the protagonist of the museum, participate. The project team is trying to introduce you to a truly Russian way of life with its good family traditions, the breadth of the peasant soul, generosity, hospitality and, most importantly, the world of a grandmother. After all, the grandmother opens the door to the country of eternal carefree childhood, love, and kindness for everybody…

The author of the project idea, the developer, and creator of the museum, Elena Alekseevna, is the granddaughter of Grandmother Maria Vinogradova. She was helped in everything by her younger sister, Galina Alekseevna Grebennikova. Both are museum professionals with experience who have worked for many years in the museum-estate of Dmitry Venevitinov (Novozhivotinnoye village), and department of the Voronezh Regional Literature Museum named after I. S. Nikitin.

The current hostess and chief keeper of the “Hospitable House” is Valentina Aleksandrovna Devitskaya, the daughter of Grandmother Maria Konstantinovna Kiseleva, a teacher, and a labor veteran.

The Grandmother Maria’s Hospitable House offers you constantly updated weekend tours, during which you can make excursions to the memorable places of Khvoschevatka and the surrounding area, visit the Pyatnitsky church, plunge into the font or stock up on the clearest water at the Semistruyniy spring, visit the village life museum, where you can attend concerts of folk artists, master classes and exhibitions, forget about civilization for a while and replenish your life with new colors and impressions.

Visitors are offered interactive programs such as “Going for the water”, “Going for the firewood”, and others, united under the general name “Life of the village farmstead”. For children, the programs “Once upon a time” and “grandmother’s pat-a-cake” are intended.

Granddaughters of Maria Konstantinovna treat you with tea and pancakes. They recall with enthusiasm how wonderful their grandmother sang even in extreme old age, and together with their friends they perform provocative Russian songs for the guests. After all, they are all soloists of the Starinushka folk ensemble.

You’ll catch the feeling that Grandmother Masha only went out into the yard for a while to milk the cow and will soon return to her beloved granddaughters and usual duties.

Do you want to get acquainted with unique household items, feel the aroma of freshly cut hay in the meadows, taste the gifts of lush gardens, try a real rustic meal, sing folk songs with folk artists, learn how to chop wood, stoke a stove, and carry water with a yoke? All this awaits you. You are welcome to visit the village life museum “Grandmother Maria’s Hospitable House”!