Erzyanskoy Kultury Museum — a museum of the culture of the Erzya people in the city of Lukoyanov, Nizhny Novgorod Region. Opened in November 1992; the only museum in the country dedicated solely to the Erzya.
The Nature of the Phenomenon
The District House of Culture in Lukoyanov has given a home to an exhibition devoted to the history and culture of the indigenous people of Nizhny Novgorod Region. Without government support, funded entirely by the museum's friends, a unique exhibition on the culture and history of the Erzya people has been created.
Suitable for ethno-tourism routes.
Has repeatedly been recognized by various civic organizations of Nizhny Novgorod Region [without administrative] and material support.
Reviews
The Erzyanskoy Kultury Museum celebrates its modest anniversary on November 20. It was created through the energy and dedicated efforts of Anoshoñ Tumay (Anoshkin Nikolay Ivanovich) and his volunteer assistants and friends.
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The museum's existence has so far gone unnoticed by the officials of AFUN under Mr. M. Mosin and the Advisory Committee of Finno-Ugric Peoples under Mr. V. Markov, who are busy organizing large-scale festivals. Perhaps the anniversary will prompt them to take notice? Perhaps this event in the contemporary life of the Erzya people will at least move the leaders of these organizations to congratulate the museum's founders on the anniversary and thank them for their devoted work. | 
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Address
Russia, Nizhny Novgorod Region, city of Lukoyanov, Mira Square, RDK, Erzyanskoy Kultury Museum.
Phone
Director Anoshkin Nikolay Ivanovich.
- 8-831-96-4-12-12
How the museum came to be
The museum opened in November 1992 and rests on the shoulders of one person — Lukoyanov artist Nikolay Ivanovich Anoshkin. The idea was born during perestroika, together with director Mikhail Savlev, who became the collection's first director.[1][2][3]
Anoshkin himself was born in January 1948 in the Erzya village of Sherstino in Gaginsky District and spoke only Erzya until the age of seven. The paintings, frames, display stands, and replicas of ritual objects for the museum were all made by his own hands.[1][4]
The museum began at the District House of Culture, then relocated to become part of the Lukoyanov local history museum, of which it remains a branch to this day; the address is 8 Mira Square.[2]
The collection is divided into three sections: "History of the Ethnos," "Outstanding Figures of Erzya Nationality," and "History of the Erzya Villages of Lukoyanovskiy District." A travelling exhibition, "Rasken Valdo" — "Light of the People," has been assembled from the collection's holdings.[2]
What is on display: wooden masks and amulets, children's toys and costumes, love-charm herbs, Erzya irons, weaving looms, everyday objects and ritual items — several hundred authentic pieces. There is no second museum in the country dedicated solely to the Erzya; the nearest thematically comparable one is the rural collection in Pikshen, and that one covers Mordva in general.[1][2]
The Ethnopark near Novoselki
The Anoshkins' second endeavor is the open-air ethnopark "Erzyan Mastor" near the village of Novoselki in Lukoyanovskiy District, close to the Kelmelismaleen Lismapryа spring. Father and son built it over roughly ten years; festivals at the spring have been held since 2008, and the first sculptures were erected in the summer of 2010.[5][6][1]
From then on, the park grew nearly every year.[7]
| Year | What Was Added |
|---|---|
| 2008 | first festivals at the spring |
| 2010 | first wooden sculptures: eight figures, three meters tall |
| 2011 | ceremony to lay the foundation of the kurgan-maar; monument to hero ancestors |
| 2012 | ethnopark officially opened; memorial plaques to ten heroes |
| 2014 | first woodcarvers' competition: 23 groups, more than 300 participants |
| 2015 | monument to inyazor Purgaz; children's craftsmen's village from Podlesnaya Tavla |
| 2016 | memorial to heroes of the ethnos — Dmitry Nadykin, Vladimir Romashkin, Sergey Turshatov, Serafima Lyulyakina — and a monument to Stepan Erzya |
| 2017 | monument "Nightingales of Russia": Lidiya Ruslanova, Illarion Yaushev, Aleksey Lesnykh |
After Anoshkin
In January 2018, Nikolay Anoshkin turned seventy, and the local history museum hosted his solo exhibition — sixty-five paintings. He gave works away to private collections, to Mordovia University, and to the Foundation for the Preservation of the Erzya Language; he also painted the burial mound where the women of the Anoshkin clan had once prayed.[4]
In June 2021, he passed away. A memorial exhibition was opened by his son, also named Nikolay Anoshkin; at the same time, a woodcarving competition for park sculptures in the master's name was announced — from 2023 onward it has been held under a regional grant called "Heritage of the Ancestors."[8][9]
The museum continues its work. In October 2025 it hosted the Days of Mordovian Culture, where Anoshkin's works were again on display among other exhibits; Tatyana Larina, editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Erzyan Mastor" and chair of the Foundation for the Preservation and Development of Erzya Ethnocultural Heritage, was in attendance.[10]
See also
Sources
- nazaccent.ru — Anna Fish. Upon Seeing the Idols, Shout! Natsionalny Aktsent, July 30, 2015 (archive)
- web.archive.org — Tourist Portal of Nizhny Novgorod Region: Lukoyanov Museum of Erzya Culture (web archive snapshot, September 23, 2019) (archive)
- zem-nn.ru — Aleksandr Skopinsky. The Erzya, a Friendly People. Zemlya Nizhegorodskaya, December 20, 2012 (archive)
- lukgazeta.ru — Larisa Steshina. Play of Soulful Colors. Lukoyanovskaya Pravda, February 5, 2018
- lukgazeta.ru — Tatyana Kudryavtseva. Youth and Ethnotourism. Lukoyanovskaya Pravda, September 25, 2018
- komanda-k.ru — Ethnopark Erzyan Mastor. Mariyskiye Lesokody, January 27, 2019 (archive)
- lukgazeta.ru — Ten Eventful Years. Lukoyanovskaya Pravda, July 24, 2020 (archive)
- lukgazeta.ru — Larisa Steshina. In Memory of a Master. Lukoyanovskaya Pravda, July 16, 2021 (archive)
- lukgazeta.ru — A Competition of Park Sculpture Carvers Takes Place in Lukoyanov. Lukoyanovskaya Pravda, July 14, 2023
- lukgazeta.ru — The Unifying Power of Traditions. Lukoyanovskaya Pravda, October 17, 2025