Crafts of the Nizhny Novgorod Land — the peasant and cottage handicrafts of the Nizhny Novgorod Governorate and Region: painting on wood and turned toys, pottery and glazed tiles, knives and locks, lace and gold embroidery, wood and stone carving, leather and fur dressing, felt boots, matting, and rope. By rough estimates, the area had at least half of all the crafts known in Russia; the main reason was its poor soil, on which a peasant could not make ends meet without outside earnings. Gatsiskiy put it this way as early as the mid-19th century: "when the land fails to bear grain, it bears a craftsman; when it bears grain, the craftsman has a crop failure"[1].
The Land of Craftsmen
The zemstvo household survey of 1887–1890 found non-agricultural earnings in 180,288 of 253,417 peasant households, or 71.1%: in large-scale factory industry the governorate lagged behind its neighbors Vladimir and Moscow, but the trade activity of its population was marked by "extreme intensity and variety"[2]. Crafts were densest in the forested Zavolzhye: in the Makaryev, Semyonov, and Balakhna Uyezds, forestry, woodworking, and construction employed up to 31,880 workers — three fifths of the working population[2]. The oldest centers have been known since the 17th century: in 1621 the land-survey registers recorded 11 forges in the village of Pavlovo, the leatherworking of the village of Bogorodskoye existed at the same time, and the Old Believers, to whom the felting trade is also attributed, were retreating into the Zavolzhye forests[3].
Goods were sold along the Volga and the Oka and above all through the yarmarka. The Nizhny Novgorod Yarmarka, moved from Makaryev, became the main point of sale, and through it Siberian iron, Orenburg wool, and hides went on for processing[3]. The yarmarka also supplied models: in 1922 the Merinovo turner Arsentiy Mayorov brought a Sergiyev Posad matryoshka back from it, and the Semyonov matryoshka began with that doll[4]. Khokhloma painting got its name from the bazaar of the Khokhloma Village, where wooden tableware from the whole surrounding area was brought together — the village itself had no such craft[5]; in the 19th century Khokhloma wares went to Central Asia and Western Europe[6], while pots from Bogorodsk, Dudenevo, and Khabarskoye traveled along the Oka and the Volga as far as Simbirsk and Astrakhan[1].
The crafts were described by contemporaries. The Governorate Zemstvo published M. A. Plotnikov's compendium Handicraft Trades of the Nizhny Novgorod Governorate (1894) — a description of the most outstanding crafts in the working of wood, metal, wool, leather, and clay[3]; by his calculations, earnings from work away from home covered from a third to two fifths of a peasant household's necessary expenses not only in the northern non-black-earth districts but also in the black-earth part of the governorate[2]. The photographer Maxim Dmitriev shot a series, "Handicraftsmen of the Trans-Volga," among whose plates is "Spoon Makers of Semyonov District at Work"[7]. In the twentieth century the craftsmen were gathered into schools and artels, and in 1960 the largest artels became factories — "Khokhloma Painting" in Semyonov and "Gorodets Painting" in Kurtsevo[8][9].
The main collection is the Museum of the History of Artistic Crafts on Bolshaya Pokrovskaya: about 4,500 items from the seventeenth to twenty-first centuries from the collection of the Nizhny Novgorod Museum-Reserve, half of them one-of-a-kind pieces[10]; the exhibition includes all three painting styles — Khokhloma, Gorodets, and Polkhov-Maidan — and of particular value are the items from the collections of the merchant D. V. Sirotkin and the photographer A. O. Karelin[11]. The country's largest collection of Khokhloma from the nineteenth and first half of the twentieth century is held at the Semyonov center MTC Golden Khokhloma"[12], and Pavlovo locks — from a giant weighing 50 kg to a microlock of 0.09 grams — at the Pavlovo Historical Museum[13]. Below, the crafts are listed by type of trade, along with their villages and towns, factories and artels, museums, masters, and the compendiums and photographs through which the crafts are known.
Wood Painting
The three Nizhny Novgorod styles of wood painting — Khokhloma, Gorodets, and Polkhov-Maidan[11] — grew up in different corners of the governorate and out of different crafts. Khokhloma is the tableware and spoons of the Trans-Volga villages: the piece was rubbed with tin powder, coated with drying oil, and fired in the oven; the oil turned yellow from the heat, and the tin showing through it became "gold" — a technique borrowed from icon painters; in the twentieth century tin was replaced with aluminum[6].
Gorodets painting grew out of carved distaff bottom boards with inlays of black bog oak, made in the villages along the Uzola River near Gorodets; the decisive turn from carving to painting is associated with Lazar and Anton Melnikov and Gavrila Polyakov of Akhlebaikha[14]. The Maidan craftsmen, by contrast, first burned patterns into turned wares — a technique they adopted from the Sergiev Posad handicraftsmen in 1912–1914 and kept until 1929–1930[15].
| Name | Years | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Khokhloma painting | since the 17th century | Painting on wood that apparently originated in the 16th–17th centuries in the villages along the Uzola River beyond the Volga; it took its name from the market of the trading village of Khokhloma, where wooden tableware from the whole surrounding area was brought for sale — it was not made in the village itself. |
| Gorodets painting | since the mid-19th century | Painting of spinning-wheel seats (donets) that grew in the second half of the 19th century out of carving with bog-oak inlay in the villages along the Uzola near Gorodets: in 1880, painted seats were made in seven villages by 34 families, 68 craftsmen in all. |
| Polkhov-Maidan painting | pyrography from 1912, painting from the 1930s | Painting of turned toys known as "tararushki" — matryoshka dolls, salt cellars, mushroom-shaped money boxes, Easter eggs — in bright aniline dyes over a starch ground, practiced in the village of Polkhovsky Maidan since the 1930s. |
| Krutets painting | 1960s–1990s | Painting of matryoshka dolls in the village of Krutets near Polkhovsky Maidan: unlike the Maidan dolls, they were long painted in oil, and the pattern was applied to the doll's back as well, where a Maidan matryoshka has only a plain kerchief. |
The matryoshka and the wooden toy
Nizhny Novgorod wooden toys are either turned or axe-and-splinter made. The first Semyonov matryoshka was turned in the village of Merinovo in 1922: the turner Arsentiy Mayorov copied a Sergiev Posad doll brought from the Nizhny Novgorod Yarmarka, and it was painted by his daughters Zinaida and Elizaveta[4]. The Maidan "tararushki" include round-bellied dolls, salt cellars, mushroom money boxes, windmills, whistles, Easter eggs, and matryoshkas; according to tradition, the first lathe was brought to these parts after the War of 1812 by the peasant Nikita Avdyukov[15].
The axe-and-splinter "balyasy" of the village of Fedoseyevo near Semyonov were made from hewn boards and slivers of wood with an axe and a knife: doll furniture, horses with carts, windmills, and carousels — in some years more than a hundred different items; the craft reached its peak in the early 1910s[16].
| Name | Years | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Semyonov matryoshka | from the 1920s; factory production in Semyonov from the 1930s | A matryoshka produced in Semyonov from the late 1930s by the M. I. Kalinin artel, which took the Merino matryoshka of 1922 as its basis; the Semyonov style of painting took shape in the 1950s — a yellow headscarf, a bright red sarafan, and a large bouquet of flowers on the apron. |
| Fedoseyevo toy | late 19th century – 1953; revival attempts from 1965 | The hewn-and-split wooden toy of the village of Fedoseyevo, ten kilometers from Semyonov — "balyasy": doll furniture, wheeled horses, carriages, windmills, and steamships, painted with red flowers with green leaves and black curlicues on a yellow ground. |
| Gorodets wooden toy | 19th–20th century | Carved and turned horses with carriages, pull toys, "baryn'ki" (lady figurines), and bentwood chairs from the villages of the Gorodets cluster — Kurtsevo, Koskovo, Akhlebaikha, Repino, Savino, Serkovo — painted with Gorodets flowers and birds. |
| Novinki toy | 19th century – 1950s; being revived since the 2000s | The golden-maned horses of the village of Novinki in Chkalovsky District — red and black horses with tarantass carriages and coachmen, their manes and tails done in gold leaf. |
| Ermilovo toy | 1955 – 1990s; production from old molds since the late 2000s | A toy made of pressed sawdust with Khokhloma "grass" patterns under lacquer, produced from 1955 in the village of Ermilovo in Koverninsky District: horses, bears, dogs, roosters, ducks, magpies. |
Clay: pottery, whistles, tiles
Pottery was known throughout the governorate: in 1901, 1,145 people made their living from the pottery trade, producing wares worth 137,000 rubles, and in Arzamassky Uyezd alone, 45 pottery workshops were operating in 1915[1]. Usually in the uyezd it was individual villages that took up pottery, and only in Balakhninsky Uyezd an entire series of volosts did so[1]. In Gorodets, the pottery trade is known from archaeological finds dating back to the 13th century; today it survives only in the village of Smirkino[17].
Clay whistles grew out of pottery — the Zhbannikovo toy was born in a cluster of Gorodets villages: Zhbannikovo, Roymino, Ryzhukhino, Moshkino, and Yazvitsy[18] — as did decorative tiles. Balakhna, which had 112 brickmakers in 1678, was famous in the 16th–18th centuries for its stove tiles and architectural tiles: they were used to face stoves, houses, and churches[1][19].
| Name | Years | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Nizhny Novgorod Pottery Craft | from the 13th century; as a mass craft, until the late 1970s | Pottery was practiced in every uyezd (county) of the governorate, though each uyezd usually had only one to four settlements engaged in it; in 1901 it supported 1,145 people, who produced ware worth 137,000 rubles. |
| Bogorodskoye pottery craft | no later than 1646 – early 20th century; revived in modern times | The pottery of the selo (a larger village) of Bogorodskoye, where the 1646 census already listed seven households of potters; in 1897 there were more than twenty large pottery workshops here with a combined annual turnover of about one hundred thousand rubles, and they occupied an entire end of the selo, known as the "hellish end." |
| Gorodets pottery craft | from the 13th century; in Smirkino, to the present day | The pottery of Gorodetsky District, known in Gorodets itself since the 13th century from archaeological finds: ware and toys were made from time immemorial in Moshkino, Roymino, Ryzhukhino, Yazvitsy, and Smirkino; the craft survives only in Smirkino, where visitors are shown how ware is made and are allowed to mold something themselves. |
| Kazarinovo black-burnished ceramics | heyday in the 19th century; foot-powered wheel from the 1930s | The black-burnished ware of the selo of Bolshoye Kazarinovo in Bolsheboldinsky District: it was shaped on a hand-turned wheel from the sticky "blue" clay of the Azanka riverbank, burnished with a pebble, and after firing in a smoky flame the kiln was buried under earth for six to eight hours, which turned the ware almost black. |
| Arzamas pottery craft | from the early 19th century to the 1990s | The pottery of the selos of Kazakovo, Zabelino, and Britovo in Arzamas Uyezd: in 1915 the uyezd had 45 pottery workshops, and the ware was sent to the Nizhny Novgorod Yarmarka and to the All-Russian Exhibition of 1896. |
| Vasilyovo pottery craft | from the 17th century to the 20th century | The pottery of the selo of Vasilyovo (Vasilyova Sloboda, now Chkalovsk) and the villages of Besedy, Mishnevo, and Sobolevo: in Balakhna Uyezd, unlike other uyezds of the governorate, potting was practiced not in one to four settlements but across a whole series of volosts (rural districts), and these stood out most among them. |
| Zhbannikovo toy | from the early 20th century; present-day appearance from the 1930s; still alive today | The clay whistle of the villages of Gorodetsky District — Zhbannikovo, Ryzhukhino, Proskurino, Roymino, and Yazvitsy: a pyramid-shaped figure on three legs, painted in a single enamel color, with dabs of another color and silvered horns and ears. |
| Vinyayevo toy | 19th century – 1965 | The clay whistle of the selo of Vinyayevo (now in Arzamassky District): a three-headed ram was modeled here — a subject not known in other parts. |
| Balakhna tiles | 16th–18th centuries | The stove and architectural tiles for which Balakhna was famous in the 16th–18th centuries: they were used to face stoves, houses, and churches, including the bell tower of the local Church of the Savior. |
Metal: Knives, Locks, Filigree, and Bells
The metalworking trades relied on charcoal burned in the local forests and on Siberian iron that lay in abundance at the Nizhny Novgorod Yarmarka: hence the nails, chains, anchors, staples, and Pavlovo locks[3]. Forges in Pavlovo are known from 1621[3]; in Vorsma, in 1766, by decree of Count P. B. Sheremetev, a locksmithing factory was founded to make guns, knives, tongs, and locks[20], and at the turn of the 20th century Vacha was ranked alongside England's Sheffield and Germany's Solingen[21].
The copper-casting trade of Purekh arose in 1830–1835: at various times, from 8 to 15 small foundries operated in the village and its surroundings, casting harness bells (poddyzhnye kolokolchiki, bells fitted to a horse's yoke arch)[22]. The youngest of the metalworking trades is Kazakovo filigree: the first tea-glass holder was assembled by twelve workers of the Kazakovo Metalworking Artel under the direction of O. I. Tarakanova in 1939[23].
| Name | Years | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Pavlovo metalworking trade | smithies known since 1621; heyday in the 18th–19th centuries | In 1621 the cadastral books recorded 11 smithies in the selo of Pavlovo in Gorbatov Uyezd, and in the 18th century Pavlovo blacksmiths shifted from firearms to padlocks, knives, and scissors. |
| Pavlovo lockmaking trade | since the 18th century; heyday in the 19th century | By the early 20th century Pavlovo craftsmen made up to 150 types of padlocks; also famous were the tiny "collar" locks the size of a pea, weighing about 0.7 grams, used to lock dog collars; and the collection of the Pavlovo Historical Museum includes a micro-lock weighing 0.09 grams. |
| Vorsma knifemaking trade | since the 18th century; Zavyalov factory since 1820 | Ivan Gavrilovich Zavyalov, a serf of Count Sheremetev, opened a knifemaking business in Vorsma in 1820, and in 1862 he received a medal at the London International Exhibition "for excellent specimens of steel cutlery." |
| Tumbotino scissors-making trade | since the second half of the 19th century; artel since January 14, 1916 | The first manufactories in Tumbotino and the surrounding villages appeared in the second half of the 19th century and "engaged in fitting and facing scissors"; among the first were the workshops of I. and A. Rodionov and D. Kondratov. |
| Sosnovskoye file-making trade | second half of the 19th century — 20th century; Metallist factory since 1888 | Files made in Sosnovskoye from English and German steel received an honorable mention at the Paris World's Fair in 1889. |
| Kazakovo filigree | since 1939 (metalworking artel in Kazakovo since 1927) | In 1939 twelve women workers of the Kazakovo metalworking artel, under the direction of O. I. Tarakanova, assembled the first filigree tea-glass holder; today filigree is made by the Kazakovo Art Products Enterprise in the selo of Kazakovo in Vachsky District. |
| Purekh bells | individual bells since 1815–1816; trade from 1830–1835 until the First World War | The copper-casting trade arose in Purekh in 1830–1835, and at various times between 8 and 15 small foundries casting harness bells operated in the selo and its surroundings. |
| Bezvodnoye fishhook-making trade | heyday from the 18th to the early 20th century; last hooks made in early 2008 | Bezvodnoye fishhooks — "catfish hooks," "beluga hooks," "Volga hooks" — went all along the Volga and to the Caspian fisheries; they stopped being made only in early 2008. |
Lace, Embroidery, and Gold Thread Work
By the nineteenth century, Balakhna had become the lace-making center of the entire governorate: in 1858, 52 craftswomen and 8 apprentices in Balakhninsky Uyezd made bobbin lace, and lace in the "Balakhna manner" was sold in Moscow, Kazan, Oryol, and Astrakhan[24]. In the 1880s, the village of Katunki began a trade in drawn-thread embroidery — Nizhny Novgorod guipure. Coming from the neighboring Vladimir Governorate, this stitching displaced bobbin lace, which survived mainly in Balakhna[25], and a guipure pattern is composed from roughly fifty traditional elements[26].
Gold thread work was the business of monasteries and town workshops. P. I. Melnikov-Pechersky wrote in 1838 that the needlework of the Arzamas Alekseevskaya Community, "especially embroidery in gold, has been brought to the highest possible perfection," and in 1885 the gold thread work of the Nikolaevsky Monastery received an honorable mention and a bronze medal at the Nizhny Novgorod Handicraft and Industrial Exhibition[27]. Gorodets gold embroidery traces its history to the Krasny Shveynik sewing cooperative of 1928[28].
| Name | Years | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Balakhna lace | 18th – early 20th century; workshop in Pravdinsk since 1968 | Bobbin lace in the "Balakhna manner" made of fine silk, with patterns such as "vases," "pomegranates," "cucumbers," and "bunches of grapes"; in 1858, 52 lacemakers and 8 apprentices wove it in Balakhna Uyezd. |
| Nizhny Novgorod Guipure | since the 1880s | A drawn-thread embroidery in which the pattern is built up from about fifty traditional elements — "little doll," "shadow," "harrow," "fly"; it began as a craft trade in the 1880s in the selo (a larger village) of Katunki. |
| Gorodets Gold Embroidery | since the 18th century; factory production since 1928 | Embroidery with metallic thread — flat "bit" and spiral-twisted bullion wire; the exhibition hall of the Gorodets gold embroidery factory holds an 18th-century kerchief on which the grapes are stitched in bullion wire, and the factory itself grew out of an artel (cooperative workshop) of twelve embroiderers. |
| Arzamas gold embroidery | 19th – early 20th century | Gold embroidery by the nuns of the Arzamas Alekseevsky and Nikolaevsky convents: in 1838 P. I. Melnikov-Pechersky wrote that gold embroidery in the Alekseevsky community had been "brought to the highest possible perfection"; a collection of their work is held in the Arzamas Museum of History and Art. |
Woodcarving and stonecarving, spoons
Nizhny Novgorod blind carving, also called "ship" carving, came to peasant houses from Volga vessels: shipbuilders, having launched their ships at high water, looked for work in the villages and carried the techniques of "barge carving" over to façade boards, shoulder boards, and window casings. Most of its surviving examples are in Nizhny Novgorod, Balakhna, and Gorodets Uyezds, where Volga shipbuilding was concentrated in the late 18th and first half of the 19th century; such boards were carved by an artel, and the pattern drawings, the "priporoki," were kept by its senior member[29].
The spoon-making trade of Semyonov Uyezd, according to a 1896 zemstvo study, employed 3,985 workers — almost a quarter of all[2]; in the early twentieth century the uyezd produced an average of 100 million wooden spoons a year, and in 1910 — 170 million[30]. Stone was carved in Bornukovo on the Pyana: anhydrite from there was sent to St. Petersburg to decorate palaces as early as the reign of Catherine II, and the work of Bornukovo craftsmen was shown at the 1896 Nizhny Novgorod Yarmarka[31].
| Name | Years | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Nizhny Novgorod blind carving | mid-18th century — early 20th century | House carving, also called "ship" or "baroque" carving, in high relief on frontal boards, pilasters, and window casings, which passed from the decoration of Volga vessels to the izbas (traditional wooden houses) of the Volga uyezds; the greatest number of its surviving examples are in the Nizhny Novgorod, Balakhna, and Gorodets uyezds. |
| Semyonov spoon-making trade | 19th — early 20th century | The oldest trade in Semyonov Uyezd: in the early twentieth century it produced an average of 100 million wooden spoons a year, and in 1910 a record 170 million. |
| Bornukovo stone-carving trade | from the mid-19th century; stone-carving workshop from 1930; today the Bornukovo Cave factory | Carving in anhydrite — "Nizhny Novgorod marble," or "slyudenets" — from the Pyana River valley near the selo (a larger village) of Bornukovo: the first items date from the mid-nineteenth century, and the work of Bornukovo craftsmen was shown at the 1896 Nizhny Novgorod Yarmarka. |
Leather, fur, valenki, and other trades
In the late nineteenth century, two-thirds of all the leather in the governorate was produced in the selo of Bogorodskoye, and in 1915 it was home to 237 tanneries with 3,500 tanning vats[32]. Local tradition traces the fur trade of Bolshoe Murashkino to the Novgorodians who were exiled here in 1478 and brought with them the secrets of tanning and fur-making[33]. In the selo of Krasnoye in Arzamassky District, hats, insoles, and felt boots (valenki) have been made of felted wool since the mid-nineteenth century; the craftsmen guarded their secrets with a language of their own invention, Matray, and the villagers are still called the Matrays[34].
According to a zemstvo survey, 1,344 workers made their living from the matting trade in Makaryev uyezd[2]. Gorbatov became a town of rope-makers after eight of the fifty craftsmen summoned by Peter I for the St. Petersburg rope-spinning yard in the early eighteenth century turned out to be natives of Gorbatov[35]; Knyaginino has been famed for its headwear since the nineteenth century, and the factory that grew out of the Shapochnik artel of 1928 still sews peaked caps and hats[36]. According to a record made by the Chernetsov brothers in 1838, the gingerbread makers of Gorodets once kept up to fifty kurens (workshop-ovens), but only nine remained, turning out up to 10,000 poods of gingerbread goods a year[37].
| Name | Years | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Bogorodsk leatherworking trade | heyday: late 19th – early 20th century | In the late 19th century, the selo of Bogorodskoye dressed two-thirds of all the hides in Nizhny Novgorod Governorate, and in 1915 it had 237 tanneries with 3,500 tanning vats. |
| Murashkino Fur Trade | by local tradition, from the late 15th century; heyday: mid-19th – early 20th century | The sheepskin and fur-coat trade of Bolshoye Murashkino, which, according to local tradition, was started by Novgorodians exiled here in 1478; by the mid-19th to early 20th century almost the entire population of the selo was engaged in the fur business. |
| Felting trade of the selo of Krasnoye | from the mid-19th century | In the selo of Krasnoye in Arzamassky District, hats, insoles, and valenki (felt boots) have been felted since the mid-19th century; the craftsmen kept their secrets in a secret language called Matray, and the villagers are still called Matrays. |
| Knyaginino hatmaking trade | from the 19th century; the Shapochnik artel from 1928 | The hat-and-cap trade of Knyaginino: since the 19th century the town has been famous for its headwear, by the end of the 19th century it had 250 artisan hatmakers, and in 1928 they united into the Shapochnik artel, which later became a garment factory. |
| Gorbatov rope-making trade | from the early 18th century; heyday: 19th century | The rope-and-cable trade of Gorbatov, made from local hemp: of the 50 spinners summoned by Peter I for the St. Petersburg rope-spinning yard, eight were from Gorbatov. |
| Nizhny Novgorod matting trade | 19th century | The weaving of bast mats and sacks on looms: in the late 1870s, up to 3,400 people in 65 settlements of the Vetluga Region of Makaryev Uyezd were engaged in it, in 1890 more than two million mats were woven there, and according to the 1896 zemstvo survey the mat trade remained especially important in Makaryev Uyezd — 1,344 workers. |
| Sergach bear trade | The migratory trade of Sergach and the surrounding settlements: residents took bear cubs, raised them, taught them simple tricks, and traveled with the "learned" bears from town to town, reaching Poland, Germany, France, and Italy; the bear later ended up on Sergach's coat of arms. | |
| Gorodets gingerbread | no later than the early 19th century | The stamped gingerbread of Gorodets: the Chernetsov brothers, who sailed down the Volga in 1838, noted that it had formerly been baked in as many as fifty kurens (bakeries), of which nine remained, producing up to 10,000 poods of gingerbread goods a year; most Gorodets gingerbread makers were Old Believers. |
Villages and Towns of the Painting and the Toy
Khokhloma painting has two centers — the town of Semyonov and the selo of Syomino in Koverninsky District[6]; the selo of Khokhloma itself on the Uzola, known since the 17th century, gave the craft nothing but the name of its bazaar[5]. In the 19th century, Khokhloma tableware was made by many villages and hamlets of the Semyonov and Balakhna uyezds, as well as the neighboring Makaryev and Varnavino uyezds of Kostroma Governorate, and a division of labor took shape among the villages[6].
Gorodets painting is the work of the villages along the Uzola near Gorodets: primacy in carved bottoms with bog oak is attributed to Akhlebaikha and Koskov[14]. The Maydan toy is associated with the selo of Polkhovsky Maydan in Voznesensky District[15], and the Semyonov matryoshka with the village of Merinovo, where it was first turned on the lathe[4].
| Name | Years | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Khokhloma Village | since the 17th century | A trading village on the Uzola River southeast of Kovernino, known since the 17th century: wooden tableware from all over the surrounding area flowed to its bazaar, and the painting style took its name from that bazaar. |
| Syomino | artel since 1919 | A village in Koverninsky District and, along with Semyonov, one of the two centers of Khokhloma painting: the Syomino dyeing and spoon-making artel was founded here in March 1919, and in 1930 the Khokhlomskoy Khudozhnik ("Khokhloma Artist") industrial artel, which became a factory; Syomino masters have long painted a light, wavy "grass" pattern. |
| Novopokrovskoye (Koverninsky District) | artel since 1919 | A Khokhloma village in the Kovernino area: the Novopokrovskoye artel appears in the list of artels registered by the Governorate Council of the People's Economy as early as March 1919; according to other sources, it was founded in 1931, and in 1960 it became part of the Khokhlomskoy Khudozhnik factory. |
| Khryashchi | artel since 1919 | A village in the Kovernino area whose Khryashchi artel appears among the artels registered by the Governorate Council of the People's Economy in March 1919; according to the "Nizhny Novgorod Encyclopedia of Industry," it was a matting-making craft artel — one of the original associations with which the history of the Khokhlomskoy Khudozhnik factory began. Khryashchi was the birthplace of the Khokhloma painting master O. N. Veselova (born 1931). |
| Semyonov | center of the craft since the early 19th century | A district town and, from the early 19th century, the main marketing center for painted wooden tableware and spoons, which came to be called "Semyonov" ware; it is home to the joint-stock company Khokhlomskaya Rospis ("Khokhloma Painting"), which traces its origins to the Semyonov School of Artistic Woodworking, founded by the Nizhny Novgorod zemstvo in 1916. |
| Gorodets | painting since the mid-19th century | A Volga town that gave its name to Gorodets painting; since December 1965 the main production site of the Gorodetskaya Rospis ("Gorodets Painting") factory has been in Gorodets, while Kurtsevo retains its branch. |
| Khlebaikha | painting of donets (spinning-wheel seats) since the mid-19th century | A village on the Uzola near Gorodets (Akhlebaikha in older texts), home to Lazar and Anton Melnikov and Gavrila Polyakov — the oldest masters, who carried out the decisive shift from carved to painted donets. |
| Kurtsevo | painting since the 19th century; artel since 1951, later a factory branch | A village on the Uzola near Gorodets where, on March 5, 1951, the Stakhanovets artel was created on the basis of workshops and became the Gorodetskaya Rospis factory in 1960; Ignaty Mazin and the Sundukov brothers worked here. |
| Koskovo | brush painting of donets since 1870 (according to tradition) | A village on the Uzola near Gorodets to which, according to local tradition, the painter Nikolay Ogurechnikov came from Gorodets in 1870 and was the first to apply free brush painting to donets; Ignaty Lebedev (1863–1943), one of the historic masters of Gorodets painting, worked here. |
| Polkhovsky Maydan | wood-turning craft since the 19th century; painting since the 1930s | A village in Voskresensky District near the border with Mordovia, where even before the Revolution almost every house turned tableware on a lathe, and in the 1920s hereditary turners switched to toys known as "tararushki"; its "bisqueware" — unpainted blanks of matryoshka dolls and tableware — is bought by Khokhloma, the Moscow area, and other craft regions. |
| Voznesenskoye | workshop since 1961, main enterprise since 1975 | A district settlement where, from 1961, a workshop of the Krasnaya Zarya ("Red Dawn") toy factory operated, and from 1975, the main enterprise of the Polkhov-Maydan Painting association. |
| Merinovo | turned toys since the late 19th century; matryoshka from 1922 until the late 1980s | An Old Believer village in Semyonovsky Uyezd on the Kerzhenets, where around 1922 the hereditary turners of the Mayorov and Vagin families began turning matryoshka dolls on the Sergiyev Posad model: Arseny Fyodorovich Mayorov (1885–1937) bought such a doll at the Nizhny Novgorod Yarmarka, turned a similar one, and his daughters painted it; this was the first matryoshka of the Semyonov area. |
| Zhbannikovo | whistles since the early 20th century | A village in Gorodetsky District that gave its name to the clay whistle: its best-known master, Larion Potatuev, worked here, and the craftswoman P. S. Timofeyeva was born here. |
Villages and Towns of the Metalworkers
The oldest metalworking village is Pavlovo with its locksmiths[3]; Vorsma lived by metalwork and locksmithing, producing knives, scissors, surgical instruments, cutlery, and weapons[20]; Vacha was known for its knives[21]; Purekh for its small bells, the casting of which grew into a full-fledged trade across the Purekh and Andreevo volosts (rural districts)[22]; and Kazakovo in Vachsky District for its filigree[23].
| Name | Years | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Pavlovo | smithies known since 1621 | In the 18th century, Pavlovo became a wealthy trading and industrial selo (a larger village), whose residents were engaged mainly in blacksmithing and the lock-and-knife trade; works by Pavlovo craftsmen from the collection of the local museum were shown at world exhibitions in Paris, London, and Chicago. |
| Vorsma | urban-type settlement since 1926, town since 1955 | A selo that has lived by locksmithing trades since the 18th century — knives, scissors, surgical instruments, and cutlery; in 1766, by decree of Count P. B. Sheremetev, a locksmith factory for guns, knives, tongs, and locks was established here. An urban-type settlement since 1926, a town since 1955. |
| Vacha | Kondratov knife works since 1830 | At the turn of the 19th–20th centuries, Vacha was ranked alongside England's Sheffield and Germany's Solingen — so famous were the local knives. |
| Tumbotino | manufactories since the second half of the 19th century | An urban-type settlement in Pavlovsky District, where scissors manufactories operated from the second half of the 19th century, and where on January 14, 1916, the Tumbotino Artisan Labor Artel, which made scissors and cutlery, began operation. |
| Kazakovo (Vachsky District) | metalworking trade since 1927, filigree since 1939 | A selo in Vachsky District where a metalworking trade arose in 1927; outside the Kazakovo Art Products Enterprise on Zavodskaya Street stands a monument to the tea-glass holder — the first item of the local filigree. |
| Purekh | small bells since 1815–1816 | The central exhibition of the D. M. Pozharsky Purekh Local History Museum is devoted to the copper-casting trade — the casting of small bells; bells by Mikhail Sirotkin and Ivan Mityunin, cast in Purekh as early as 1815 and 1816, are known. |
| Sosnovskoye | blacksmithing since the early 17th century; Metallist factory since 1888 | An urban-type settlement where blacksmithing had been mastered by the early 17th century, and from 1888 the Metallist factory operated, making primarily steel files; a three-meter monument to a file stands at its entrance gate. |
| Bezvodnoye | In the selo of Bezvodnoye on the right bank of the Volga, people drew metal wire, wove mesh, and made grilles, chains, nails, hooks and eyes for clothing, and fishhooks. |
Villages and Towns of Other Trades
Balakhna was a town of glazed tiles and lace[19][24]; Katunki was the birthplace of Nizhny Novgorod guipure, a selo that lived not by farming but by trades — tanning, shoemaking, and glue-making[25]; Bogorodsk was a town of leatherworkers[32]; Bolshoe Murashkino of furriers[33], Gorbatov of ropemakers[35], and Knyaginino of hatmakers[36]; Bornukovo on the Pyana was a village of stone carvers[31].
| Name | Years | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Balakhna | An old Volga town where glazed tiles were fired and lace was woven; the crafts are the subject of an exhibition at the Plotnikov House Museum. | |
| Katunki | center of stitched embroidery since the 1880s | A village in the former Balakhna Uyezd and the birthplace of Nizhny Novgorod stitched embroidery: the artel organized in 1924 by Sofya Nikolayevna Dubynina grew from 16 people to 427 by 1927. |
| Chkalovsk | The former village of Vasilyovo (the town of Chkalovsk since 1937), where in 1927 an artel of stitched embroidery arose, producing drapes, tablecloths, and bedspreads; since 1960 the Chkalovsk Stitched Embroidery Factory has been located here. | |
| Bornukovo | A village in Buturlinsky District on the Pyana River, long famed for its stone-carving craftsmen: here they carved animal figurines from anhydrite — "Nizhny Novgorod marble," or "slyudenets" — in the 20th century the Bornukovskaya Peshchera factory operated here, and since August 2010 the Stone Museum, a branch of the Buturlino Museum of History and Local Lore, has been open. | |
| Bogorodsk | A town of tanners and potters: at the end of the 19th century the village of Bogorodskoye processed two-thirds of the hides in Nizhny Novgorod Governorate, and the village itself, together with neighboring Dudenevo and Khabarskoye, was considered the governorate's largest pottery center. | |
| Bolshoe Murashkino | A trading village of furriers, whose appearance was shaped by merchants who built stone mansions to designs by Italian and German architects; the museum occupies the 1915 house of the Monyov furrier brothers. | |
| Gorbatov | A town on the Oka where, from the early 18th century, making rope, cables, and rigging from local hemp became the residents' main occupation. | |
| Knyaginino | A town whose local history museum holds an extensive collection of headwear from the hat-and-cap trade, and whose garment factory, which grew out of the "Shapochnik" artel of 1928, still produces peaked caps, hats, and uniform headwear. |
Factories, Artels, and Schools
The crafts of the twentieth century relied on schools and artels (craft cooperatives). In 1916, on the initiative and with the funds of the mayor of Nizhny Novgorod, D. V. Sirotkin, the School of Artistic Woodworking opened in Semyonov, headed by the artist G. P. Matveyev; it united scattered artisans, and the artel that grew out of it became the Khokhloma Painting Factory in 1960[8]. In Pavlovo as early as 1890, A. G. Stange had founded an artisan artel funded by the shares of its members — the beginning of the future artistic metalware plant[38].
In March 1919, the Khryashchevka rogozha-handicraft artel and the Semino and Mokushino dyeing-and-spoon-making artels arose in the Kovernino okrug (district), marking the beginning of the history of the Khokhloma Artist factory[39]. Gorodets painting was revived after the war: in 1951 an artel was founded in Kurtsevo, and the hereditary master Aristarkh Konovalov was elected its chairman; in 1960 it became a factory, and in December 1965 it merged with the Gorodets Furniture Factory[9].
| Name | Years | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Khokhlomskaya Rospis Factory | school from 1916; artel from 1925 ("Eksport" from 1931); factory from 1960; now a joint-stock company | The Semyonov enterprise of Khokhloma painting traces its origins to a school of artistic woodworking opened in 1916 (according to some sources, by the governorate zemstvo; according to others, with funds from the Nizhny Novgorod mayor D. V. Sirotkin); the artel that grew out of it, called "Khokhlomskaya Rospis" from 1950, became a factory in 1960 and is now the joint-stock company Khokhlomskaya Rospis. |
| Khokhlomskoy Khudozhnik Factory | artels from 1919; state factory from 1960; closed joint-stock company from 1993 | A Khokhloma enterprise in Semino, Koverninsky District — one of the two centers of "golden Khokhloma": its history begins with the Semino and Mokushino dyeing-and-spoon-making artels of 1919, a production artel was created in 1930, and in December 1960 it became a state factory. |
| Gorodetskaya Rospis Factory | Stakhanovets artel from 1951; factory from 1960 | A factory that grew out of the Stakhanovets carpentry, furniture, and art artel, established on March 5, 1951, in Kurtsevo: on October 1, 1960, the artel became the Gorodetskaya Rospis factory, and in December 1965 it was merged with the Gorodets Furniture Factory. |
| Semyonovskaya Rospis Factory | from 1932 | The Semyonov matryoshka factory was founded in 1932 as the Kalinin artel, was later called "Igrushka" and "Suveniry," and is now the limited liability company TD Semyonovskaya Rospis. |
| Polkhov-Maidan Toy Factory | artel from 1929; factory from 1961; association from 1975; closed in 2004 | An artel of Polkhov-Maidan craftsmen, created in 1929 and named "Krasnaya Zarya" from 1931, became a toy factory with a workshop in Voznesenskoye in 1961 (according to other sources, in 1960), and from 1975 became the Polkhov-Maidanskaya Rospis association with its head enterprise in Voznesenskoye; the enterprise closed in 2004. |
| Kirov Pavlovo Art Metalware Plant | artel from 1890; Kirov artel from 1944; plant from 1956 | The plant grew out of the Pavlovo craft artel created by A. G. Shtange in 1890: in 1944 the Shtange artel was renamed the Kirov artel, and in 1956 it became a plant. |
| Trud Plant (Vacha) | from 1830; Trud from the 1920s | The knife-making works was founded in 1830 by the serf Dmitry Ivanovich Kondratov; in 1867 the plant employed 460 people, and after the nationalization of 1919 the factory was named "Trud" (according to some sources in 1920, according to others in May 1923, chosen by the workers). |
| Gorodets Openwork Embroidery Factory | artels from 1928; factory from September 1, 1960; now Gorodetskaya Zolotnaya Vyshivka | A factory created on September 1, 1960, on the basis of Gorodets sewing and embroidery artels (the first dating from 1928); in 1975 about 1,500 people worked in its new four-story building, and since the 1990s, of its former techniques, it has kept only gold embroidery. |
| Chkalovsk Openwork Embroidery Factory | artels from 1924; factory from 1960; now the closed joint-stock company Gipyur | A factory of Nizhny Novgorod guipure, created in 1960 from the Chkalovsk openwork embroidery artel, to which other artels of the district were added as branches — the oldest of them was founded in Katunki in 1924; its legal successor Gipyur was recognized in 2003 as an organization of folk art crafts representing significant cultural and historical value. |
| Jurgens Bogorodsk Tannery | from 1907 | The plant of the Bogorodsk craftsman I. V. Khokhlov began tanning leather on October 1, 1907, and at the end of 1918 it was nationalized and named after A. Yu. Jurgens. |
| Tkanye Uzory Factory | The Shakhunya factory of patterned heddle weaving: the products are woven by hand on wooden looms recreated from old drawings, and the ornaments are designed by master artists. | |
| Semyonov School of Artistic Woodworking | from 1916 | The school was opened in Semyonov in 1916 (according to some sources by the governorate zemstvo, according to others with funds from the Nizhny Novgorod mayor D. V. Sirotkin); its founder and first director was the artist G. P. Matveev; in 1924–1925 its graduates formed the Kustar-Khudozhnik artel, from which the Khokhlomskaya Rospis factory grew. |
Museums
The oldest crafts museum opened in Semyonov in 1934 as the Museum of Artistic Handicrafts. It was given a classroom of the school of artistic woodworking and, until the mid-1950s, was run by the school's founder, G. P. Matveyev[40]. The Balakhna Museum opened on November 7, 1927[41]. The House of Artistic Crafts on Bolshaya Pokrovskaya Street, which houses the regional crafts museum, was built in 1975 to a design by Yu. P. Osin; its façade is decorated with a mosaic frieze depicting figures from folk art[10].
New museums are being opened by the crafts themselves: the Semyonov factory opened the Golden Khokhloma center in 2008[12], and the Gorodets factory opened Russia's first museum of Gorodets painting on June 12, 2025[42].
| Name | Years | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Museum of the History of Artistic Crafts of Nizhny Novgorod Region | building dates from 1975; museum since 1983 | A branch of the Nizhny Novgorod Museum-Reserve at 43 Bolshaya Pokrovskaya: about 4,500 items from the 17th–21st centuries, half of them one-of-a-kind, including all three Nizhny Novgorod styles of wood painting — Khokhloma, Gorodets, and Polkhov-Maidan. |
| Semyonov Museum of History and Art | since 1934 | The museum opened in 1934 as a museum of artistic handicraft trades in a classroom of the Semyonov school of artistic woodworking; it now occupies the estate of the Old Believer merchant P. P. Sharygin and holds more than 20,000 items. |
| Golden Khokhloma Museum and Tourist Center | since 2008 | The museum center of the Khokhloma Painting factory in Semyonov opened in 2008; it holds the largest collection in the country of items with Khokhloma painting from the 19th and the first half of the 20th century. |
| Museum of Gorodets Painting | since 2025 | The first museum of Gorodets painting opened on June 12, 2025, in Gorodets, based on the holdings of the Gorodets Painting factory: almost 400 items, the oldest exhibits being plates from the 18th century. |
| City of Craftsmen (Gorodets) | since 2010 | A museum and tourist complex in Gorodets, opened in January 2010: it is built in the tradition of Russian wooden architecture and showcases the "blind" house carving of Gorodets craftsmen. |
| Gorodets Museum Quarter | A complex of museums in the historic center of Gorodets: it includes the Gorodets Gingerbread Museum, the "Countess Panina's House," the Samovar Museum, the children's museum on Kupecheskaya Street, and the "City of Craftsmen." | |
| Otchina Museum and Exhibition Center | since 1997 | A museum opened in Kovernino in June 1997 in the mid-19th-century house of the merchant T. P. Sezemov: the main part of its collection of 3,000 items is Khokhloma painting by Kovernino craftsmen, while the permanent exhibition tells the history of the Khokhloma craft in its ancestral homeland. |
| Pavlovo Historical Museum | since 1936; knife museum since 2019 | The historical museum of Pavlovo, founded in 1936, occupies the 1885 estate of the merchant V. I. Gomulin; its main pride is a collection of Pavlovo locks, from a giant weighing 50 kg to a micro-lock weighing 0.09 grams that opens with a tiny key. |
| Balakhna Museum Complex of History and Art | since 1927 | One of the oldest museums in the Region, opened on November 7, 1927; it features the exhibition "Lacy Balakhna" — bobbin lace in the "Balakhna manner" from the 19th century onward, along with a separate section of lace from 1969–1993. |
Masters
The crafts have preserved the names of their masters since the late 19th century. For Gorodets painting, these are Lazar and Anton Melnikov and Gavrila Polyakov of Akhlebaikha, followed by Terentiy Belyaev of Repino, Ignatiy Mazin and the Sundukov brothers of Kurtsevo, and Ignatiy Lebedev and Fyodor Krasnoyarov of Koskovo[14]. Aristarkh Konovalov studied painting from the age of eight in the workshop of his grandfather S. F. Kryukov, and in 1936 he came as an apprentice to the Kurtsevo workshop[43]. The Semyonov matryoshka begins with the turner Arsentiy Mayorov and his daughters[4], and the Khokhloma creative laboratory of 1964 begins with the artist Ye. N. Dospalova[44].
| Name | Years | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Fyodor Andreyevich Bedin | 1888–1969 | A master of Khokhloma painting, one of those who revived and renewed the "grass" style of painting after 1917; part of the exhibition at the folk art museum in Syomino is devoted to his contribution. |
| Yekaterina Nikolayevna Dospalova | 1932–2001 | An artist at the Semyonov "Khokhloma Painting" factory, who headed the creative laboratory established at the factory in 1964. |
| Aristarkh Yevstafyevich Konovalov | in the craft since 1936 | A master and organizer of Gorodets painting, originally from the village of Savino: in 1936 he joined the Kurtsevo workshop as an apprentice, in 1951 he headed the "Stakhanovets" artel, from which the "Gorodets Painting" factory grew, and after 1957 he himself taught young women artists at the Semyonov vocational school. |
| Arsentiy Fyodorovich Mayorov | 1885–1937 (according to the book by Kvacha) | A lathe operator from the village of Merinovo, with whom the Semyonov matryoshka begins: in 1922 he brought a Sergiyev Posad matryoshka from the Nizhny Novgorod Yarmarka (according to another version, from Sergiyev Posad itself), and the first Merinovo dolls modeled on it were painted by his daughters; in those same years the Vagin family of Merinovo also began making dolls. |
| Georgiy Petrovich Matveyev | born 1875 | An artist and carver, founder and first director of the Semyonov School of Artistic Woodworking; from the early 1930s to the mid-1950s he was the central figure in the establishment of the Semyonov Museum of Artisanal Art Crafts. |
| Olga Ivanovna Tarakanova | in Kazakovo from the late 1930s | A filigree artist, a graduate of the Krasnoye Selo vocational school, sent to Kazakovo to organize an artel: under her leadership, in 1939 twelve women workers assembled the first filigree tea-glass holder. |
Compilations, Exhibitions, Photographs
The first complete description of the trades was produced by the provincial zemstvo: a household-by-household survey conducted in 1887–1890 and M. A. Plotnikov's compilation "Handicraft Trades of the Nizhny Novgorod Governorate" (1894), which covers trades in woodworking, metalworking, wool, leather, and clay[3][2]. The wares were displayed at exhibitions: in 1885, at the Nizhny Novgorod Handicraft and Industrial Exhibition, the gold embroidery of the Arzamas nuns received a bronze medal and an honorable mention[27], and in 1896, the year of the All-Russian Exhibition, the work of the Bornukovo stonecutters was shown at the Nizhny Novgorod Yarmarka[31]. The look of the Transvolga workshops has been preserved in the photographs of Maxim Dmitriev from his series "Transvolga Craftsmen"[7].
| Title | Years | Description |
|---|---|---|
| M. A. Plotnikov, "Handicraft Trades of Nizhny Novgorod Governorate" | 1894, 1896 | A zemstvo compendium of the governorate's handicraft trades compiled by M. A. Plotnikov. For the All-Russian Exhibition of 1896 it appeared in St. Petersburg as the second issue of the series "Nizhny Novgorod Governorate According to the Studies of the Provincial Zemstvo" — 133 pages and 23 plates of illustrations. |
| Nizhny Novgorod Handicraft and Industrial Exhibition of 1885 | 1885 | A handicraft, industrial, and agricultural exhibition of Nizhny Novgorod Governorate held in Nizhny Novgorod from June 15 to August 26, 1885. Among the award winners was Paisia, abbess of the Nikolaevsky Convent in Arzamas, who received a bronze medal for the nuns' gold embroidery on embroidered slippers and an honorable mention for an embroidered kerchief. |
| All-Russian Industrial and Art Exhibition of 1896 | 1896 | The All-Russian Exhibition of 1896 in Nizhny Novgorod, where the governorate showed the products of its handicraftsmen. The zemstvo compendium "Handicraft Trades of Nizhny Novgorod Governorate" was published for it, and in the handicraft section the zemstvo displayed a great many anonymous bells and small sleigh bells and received a first-class diploma. Of the governorate's bell makers, only Aleksey Mikhaylovich Troshin of Purekh was represented under his own name. |
| T. Gusarova and E. Shmelev, "Pottery Trades of the Nizhny Novgorod Land" | 2019 | A scholarly ethnographic essay on pottery in the governorate — from Bogorodskoye and Kazarinovo to the Arzamas and Balakhna uyezds — published in 2019 among the materials of the Ethnological Museum of Nizhny Novgorod Region. |
| Dmitriev Maksim Petrovich | 1858–1948; the "Trans-Volga Craftsmen" series — 1897 | A Nizhny Novgorod photographer who in 1897 shot the series "Trans-Volga Craftsmen": spoon carvers of Semyonov Uyezd at work and spoon production in the village of Chernukha. |
Sources
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