Add a review about the Museum of Lace in Balakhna

In the ancient city of Nizhny Novgorod Balakhna a unique museum - Lace Museum was created. And no wonder. After all, lace fishing has always occupied a special place in the artistic folk art of the Nizhny Novgorod province.

The museum, opened in 2008, makes a very pleasant impression. The initiator of its creation was a fanatic collector, a passionate lover of the old times Viktor Nikolaevich Kirillov, who understands the importance of preserving old samples of balakhnin lace.

In the exposition of the museum - lace in excellent condition since the 19th century, woven on bobbins, lacy items in a "hoodoo manner" (scarves, scarves, sweaters, scarves).

The household exposition (merchant's living room, peasant way of life, measuring lace on clothes, bed-clothes, towels) was reproduced in the museum. There is a hall "Icons of Balakhna", where unique creations of "sovereign icon painters" of the 17th century and a small local history exhibit are collected. A special place in the museum is reserved for the lace of Soviet times (1969-1993). It often organizes different exhibitions (for example, a costume). Very hospitable and friendly workers of the museum will tell about lace and their history, answer all the questions that arise.

The wedding dress of the British Queen Victoria in 1840 was decorated with Balakhna lace. This is a historical fact.

According to the stories transmitted by word of mouth, lacework has existed in Balakhna since the 18th century. At the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, the Balakhna lace fishery experienced its heyday, and a special kind of lace was born - a "hoodoo".

Exquisite Balakhna lace had a special meaning. It spun on the bobbin (there were up to three hundred) in a plentiful weaving technique, using about a dozen different kinds of nets. This is the "hoodoo". The airy tulle lattices contrasted with rich, rich patterns.

The most famous drawing is the "robe". According to legend, Catherine II herself ordered silk lace with red roses on a white background at the

Museum of lace in Balakhna, Nizhny Novgorod region

Silk scarves with patterns from grape bunches, openwork scarves, cream and black silk dresses were very appreciated in Russia and abroad (London, Vienna, Paris, New York). Balakhna laces went abroad through the Nizhny Novgorod fair

The quality and variety of patterns was so great that the lace could be compared with the Belgian from Brabant.

The wedding dress of the British Queen Victoria in 1840 was decorated with Balakhna lace. This is a historical fact.

In the Museum of lace, the exhibits can be divided into groups . In the first one, laces that appeared in the collection until 1961 . (eighteen) . This includes a linen jacket, a hood, an apron-cuff (all - the second half of the 19th century) . The craftsmen are unknown . The second group (30 exhibits) is the lace received in 1961-1994 . Here the most interesting exhibits are a three-meter kerchief or shawl, also the second half of the 19th century and a scarf belonging to Praskovie Lunina, a retailer from Pestyakov . In the third group - exhibits, appeared In the last years . the collection of the museum you can see the lace-shaped items and measuring lace .

Three-meter beautiful kerchief or shawl made of Tatiana Sergeevna Varvarina's cream silk (the turn of the 19th - 20th centuries) is the best example of " hoodoo manner ". Also, the museum forms mini-collections of Balakhna lace makers who, in addition to the articles, present their personal belongings, documents, photographs (for example, Galina Alexandrovna Kotova).

The visit to the Balakhna lace museum is a wonderful adventure into the past and a meeting with the finest craft of the Nizhny Novgorod region, after whose impressions are over the edge!

How to get here

Address: Nizhny Novgorod region, Balakhna, pl. Sovetskaya, 12.

Opening hours

The lace museum is open for visits on Monday - Friday from 9:00 to 17:00, Saturday and Sunday - the day off.