Museum of Old Folk Crafts and Technologies Dudutki

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Close to the village of Dudichi, next to the complex there once stood the mansion of the Yelsky family that turned Dudichi into a big crafts and trading center, a “manor of muses”. By 1800 the mansion included not only the house of the hosts and crafts shops but also a wooden church, a wind mill, three taverns, a garden, a greenhouse, a small tannery. Fairs were held every Woodworker’s shopmonth there. The Dudutki museum, which opened in 1994, was initiated by Belarusian journalist Yevgeny Budinas. The complex, which recreates the life of the Belarusian country estate of the 19th century, is based on the rich history of Dudichi.

Today Dudutki offers:

• Ethnographic gallery featuring the items of the 18th-20th centuries
• Handicraft yard (straw and willow weaving)
• Pottery (museum of ceramics)
• Woodworker’s shop
• Blacksmiths shop of the 19th century
• Creamery
• Bakery
• Brewery (a vodka brewing shop)
• Shed with vintage cars (Zim, Chaika, Horch, Willis, Volkswagen Beetle, Ganomak, Fiat Topolino, Chrysler)
• Wind mill in the Dutch style (built in the 1903-1905 by brothers Mikhail and Ivan Polyakovs)
• Wooden church of John the Prophet
• Stable with pedigree horses, a pony and a donkey
• Zoological gardens (with cows, goats, pigs, rabbits, poultry)
• Ostrich farm

Visitors to the museum are offered to taste products from a local brewery (home-distilled vodka, bread, honey and cucumbers), from a bakery (freshly baked bread, butter and three kinds of cheese) and from a local mill (bread baked by peasants with a piece of lard). The museum has a café (Dududki, Korchma), the Shinok bar, the Ptich hotel and a guest house with a sauna. During the entire year the Dududki complex holds feasts and festivals:

•  Pancake Week
•  Opening and closing of a season (the Yelsky family heritage)
•  Victory Day and Independence Day
•  Festival of street artists
•  Blacksmiths’ plein air
•  Kupalle open-air festival
•  Patronal feast of the Dududki church
•  Our Grunwald festival to commemorate the contribution of the Belarusian armies to the victory in the Battle of Grunwald in 1410
•  Ethno Mlyn feast
•  Feast of Three Spas (Honey Spas, Apple Spas and Spas on Canvas, held in late August)
•  Christmas exhibition

Location:
1.5 km from the Dudichi village, Pukhovichi District, Minsk Oblast.

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