Barn Charm - Farm House on Kizhi Island

Yesterday I started a week's worth of posts about beautiful tiny Kizhi Island on the most northern point of Russia--in Karelia region on Lake Onega. Kizhi is a UNESCO World Heritage site and is an open air museum for northern Russian timber architecture that's from the early 1700s that uses no nails in the construction. Yesterday I concentrated on the centerpiece, the Transfiguration Cathedral (scroll back to Oct. 1 if you want to read). Today for Barn Charm I'll show you a unique farm house and other historic farm structures.

This farm house served a very useful function in the 16th century and many years beyond.  It was a combination barn and family dwelling.  The upper floors of this building could accommodate large families in a couple of multi-purpose rooms.  The livestock, farm implements, and grain were kept on the bottom floor.  A very practical arrangement for the farmer because only one house needed to be built, plus the livestock provided much needed heat from their bodies in Russia's bitter winters.  Here is an additional view of  the farm house and a closeup of the intricate woodwork on the upper family living level:

In the first photo above, notice the wide door to the right of the ramp going upstairs.  This door leads into the barn section where the livestock would have been kept, along with farm tools.  Since this building is now part of a museum, common tools are now displayed, including several looms for weaving wool and flax into cloth and various plows and wood cutting implements--and the family boat which would be used to take farm products to the mainland for sale and barter:

Now going upstairs you get into the family living quarters. Center stage belongs to the huge stove where meals are cooked, rooms heated and for a lucky few a sleep platform for the winter. In the other room, you see the first bunkbed--or would you say closet bed?

In the main room with the stove we saw displays of Karelian embroidery which is an old art form as well as family artifacts.  The dowry chest would be brought to the home by a new bride filled with hand-embroidered and more practical clothes and linens.  A young groom would be expected to provide transportation such as this sleigh or a boat to go with this fanciful oar:

In addition to the farm house there were several other structures that were important to family life such as the sauna handily situated on the water's edge so that after a good steaming and beating with birch limbs to get your blood up then you could jump into the lake for a final wash!

And here's a fine example of a windmill:

I mentioned before that Kizhi had some of the most beautiful water's edges that I saw in 13 days of cruising. Tomorrow I'll share some of those scenes with you for Wordless and Watery Wednesdays. Here's just a little glimpse that is most a part of the farm scene:

Now if you'd like to participate in the Barn Charm meme, or just see some interesting "barnery" from many different places, just go to Bluff Area Daily .