Kyiv region

Novi Petrivtsi village

Knyazya Sviatoslava street, 50

Savki Farm

Savki Farm is an ethnographic museum open air museum located in the village of Novi Petrivtsi near the Mezhyhirya tract, near the Bell Well, 6 kilometers from the border of Kiev. The main theme of the museum is rural life of the XVIII-XIX centuries.On the territory of the ethnographic museum “Khutor Savki” there are two authentic estates from different regions of Ukrainian Polissya, as well as beehives, a log cabin, a gypsy forge, a model well with a crane, a milky visa and a two-chamber cellar.In the exposition the museum does not have a single “exhibit” under glass, instead any household item can be tried in action. The historical and cultural property of the museum consists of clay products of the 19th century (pots, jugs, makitra, irons, bowls), household and everyday objects of the 18th and 19th centuries (hatcheries, rakes, hammers, axes, tongs, sickles, scales, bread bins and others), stationary tools (weaving and carpentry machines, spinning, potter's circle, forge). One of the estates of the museum is a peasant house, built in 1786. The estate is built in a log cabin made of hewn pine logs by the method of “paw to paw”. The basis of the dwelling is oak basements, which lie on a stone foundation. According to popular beliefs, the dwelling with the front door is oriented to the South, the rear part of the house is oriented to the East, and the rear part of the house, respectively, to the North. The hay plays the role of a hallway room and a household node.At the same time, it houses a weaving machine, a spinning reel and a chest with a family crate. The next room of the estate is called the pantry. This is traditionally the economic part of Ukrainian housing. It houses a carpenter's workshop with a real 90-year-old carpentry machine, and a shoemaker's workshop with all the necessary tools. Under the pantry there is a cellar in which snow can be stored until June. Inside, the pantry remained unbleached and was also used to store food stocks. The living room at all times was considered the center of family life. It was in the photo that there were such things as a stove, table and Holy Corner for every Ukrainian. Since the times of paganism, the stove was respected most of all, as it contained a life-giving fire. With the advent of Christianity, the center of the home worldview was shifted to the corner. On the hill stood icons decorated with the best towels and a burning lamp. Also here lay church books, candles, there was a jug of consecrated water. The owner usually sat on the corner, and respected guests were seated in this place of honor.The second estate appeared on the territory of the ethnographic museum on October 10, 2009. It was transported from the village of Meleni, Korosten district, Zhytomyr region. The peculiarity of the architectural type of housing lies in the fact that much wider pine logs with an unselected ridge were used in its construction. The hut has a traditional three-chamber structure with twice the usual picture. Due to the fact that it is a noble estate, the total area of each of the rooms is 1.5 - 1.7 times larger than the rooms of the peasant hut. The principles of the construction of the estate testify to the ancient architectural traditions. Due to the poor road connections, the remoteness of the then Volyn province from the capital of the Russian Empire and the difficult passability of the Polis region in the 17th and 19th centuries, the greatest preservation of cultural property has always been observed here. That is why in the fields of this estate there is a boudoir, which in the middle of the 19th century was almost not used in the dwellings of Kiev Polissya. Also a feature of the architecture is the smaller size of the windows and the wider and thicker floorboards. The strip of both estates is covered with reed according to the grandfather's technology.The ethnographic museum arose from one estate, which the owner was lucky to purchase in 2003. The peasant's estate was in a completely abandoned state, so it was restored by the efforts of the whole family. Already in the summer of 2004, the first visitors to the newly created ethnographic museum began to appear. At first, each of the museum team, except for the owner, Mr. Savka, considered it entertainment, a joy for the family. They acted rather out of curiosity, but kept everything on the naked enthusiasm. Visits to the estate became more and more frequent, the guests began to enthusiastically visit the museum, to be interested in the culture of the Ukrainian people and to celebrate significant family holidays and life events in the estate. In the spring of 2005, the first outbuildings were built — a grove and a forge, and the filling with household items was increased. And already in the summer of 2005, the owner and his son went on the first ethnographic expedition through the villages of Pereyaslav region. Since then, a considerable part of Kiev and Zhytomyr Polissya has been developed. A new stage in the history of the museum began with the opening of the Noble Manor on October 10, 2009.