Museum of Christmas toys "Klinskoe podvorye": reviews, photos

The most beloved and long-awaited holiday - the New Year - is accompanied by pleasant efforts to find gifts for relatives and friends and decorate the Christmas tree. Dressing New Year tree with beautiful balls, bells, garlands and tinsel, even adults again feel like children.

For kids this ritual also brings a lot of joy and laughter, but very few people know that there is a real museum of the Christmas tree "Klinskoe podvorye", where you can not only buy the original decorations on the tree, but also see the magic of their making.

Klin

The city of Klin, first mentioned in the chronicles of 1234, was originally a small fortification that was washed on three sides by the Sister River. Located on a hill, it was a great place to warn of enemies approaching the river.

This town-fortress received the official status of the city only in 1781, and before that he first entered the Vladimir-Suzdal principality, and from the 15th century he was annexed to Muscovy. During the time of the oprichnina of Ivan the Terrible, the inhabitants of the city underwent mass repressions, but from the end of the 16th century handicrafts and industry gradually began to develop here, which led Klin to the 12th place among other industrially developed cities of the Russian Empire by the end of the 19th century.

Today Klin is a modern city with established traditions, one of which is the creation of New Year's holidays for children and adults. At any time of the year, you can come to the "Klinskoe Podvorye", where Santa Claus and Snow Maiden are permanently residing, where they produce colorful and bright Christmas-tree toys and you can learn a lot from the history of making jewelry for the New Year tree.

The history of the Christmas tree toy

Although the adornment of trees originates from the time of Ancient Egypt and the animation of plants by the Druids, Christmas decoration appeared on the 14th century. This ritual was symbolic, as the Christmas tree was crowned with the Bethlehem star, apples (a reminder of the fall), candles and cookies as daily bread. This kind of Christmas tree lasted until the middle of the 17th century.

In Russia, spruce began to decorate according to the decree of Peter I, which was introduced to this tradition by foreign courtiers, and the first fur-tree toys appeared in the 16th century due to a glassblower's mistake from Germany.

Blowing out a glass ball that was not fit for any size, he painted it with snowflakes and gave it to his daughter for Christmas. The girl hung it on the Christmas tree. And it was so pleasing to the glassblower that he blew out more balls that he successfully sold.

Only in the 17th century began their mass production, and in the homes of noble people appeared Christmas toys. "Klinskoe Podvorye" produces New Year's decorations for 160 years, and during this time a huge number of toys were made at the factory, some of which became exhibits in the museum. You can see them all year round, but they cause the greatest interest in adults and children on the eve of the New Year.

Halls of the museum

The museum of the Christmas tree "Klinskoe Podvorie" is divided into halls dedicated to a certain era of development of this production.

The first hall shows the guests the tradition of decorating a Christmas tree in the 19th century. Then each object had its own symbolic meaning. For example, candied fruits meant the food Eve and Adam ate, and the nuts wrapped in a golden wrapper personified the wisdom of the world.

Until the middle of the 19th century, most of the ornaments on the tree were food or hand-made flowers, angels and snowflakes. It was customary to invite children to the Christmas tree and offer them a gift. By the end of the evening, the Christmas tree was almost empty, but all the children were happy.

The factory "Klinskoe Podvorie" (Klin), which was opened in the 19th century, began to produce Christmas decorations made of glass, which were in great demand. These toys were very carefully taken care of and usually passed on by inheritance.

Presented in the 1st room of the Christmas tree is decorated with flowers made of sugar and apples, as was customary in the 19th century.

New Year's toy of the beginning of the 20th century

"Klinskoe podvorye", reviews about which the most enthusiastic, both for children and adults, is a kind of time machine with which you can simultaneously visit different periods of economic growth and industrial development of Russia.

So, the second hall takes guests to the 19th century, to the glassblower workshop, where glass beads were made, Christmas balls embodying apples, bells and angels. Here are the tools with which the glassblower created, and toys of that time.

In the third hall you can see how industrialization affected the production of Christmas-tree toys. For a long time, the forbidden tradition of decorating the Christmas tree was revived in 1935. Part of the exhibits presented here is made of cotton wool and cardboard. In the windows there are glass decorations of those years, and at the stands one can see a dying form of art - New Year's cards.

Workshop of glass blowers

The most interesting magic that offers to see "Klinskoe metochion" is the work of glassblowers, who in the presence of guests turn glass into a ball, a cone, a bell or Santa Claus.

Master, warming the tube of glass over the gas burner, brings it to a soft state, to immediately through a special hole in the tube blow out a glass masterpiece. This work requires great skill, which can be worked out only by years of practice. The craftsmen retire early, as this work is classified as hard work.

No less interesting in the shop for painting Christmas tree toys. Klinskoe Podvorye is a unique museum in which you can not only look at the exhibits, but also watch their birth. Each artist gives the toys a unique image, which is inherent only in works made by hand.

You can buy unique Christmas tree decorations in the museum store.

Score

The museum "Klinskoe Podvorye" offers everyone to buy the works of the factory masters in the store, which works without days off, from 9.00 to 20.00, without a break for lunch.

Christmas decorations from Klin can be bought in different cities, but such an assortment and a low price, like in a local store, is nowhere to be found.

Shelves full of Christmas balls, hand painted on various topics. Here, the Kremlin, and the angels, and the Christmas trees in the snow. A good gift will be a ball with congratulations on New Year to my grandmother, grandfather, parents, friends with their name on the toy.

Balls of different sizes and colors are the main assortment, although there are also many glass toys of other shapes: tops, cones, hearts, houses, trains, icicles and symbols of the New Year.

In addition to toys, you can purchase artificial Christmas trees: from small ones with highlights to beauties in full size.

Other museum halls

Not everyone knows that Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky lived and worked in the Klin district. His fairy-tale ballet "The Nutcracker" is dedicated to a separate room. Here is a smart Christmas tree, next to which are fairy-tale characters - the Nutcracker himself and his enemy Mouse King. Guests are introduced to this work to the sound of the music of the great composer.

Interesting exhibits are located in the windows, devoted to the time from the 40's to the 60's. The maintenance of the motives of glass balls, as well as the shapes of other Christmas toys, was influenced by wartime. Here are presented toys in the form of airplanes, orders, stars of various sizes.

In the 60's the theme of Christmas tree decorations is related to flights to space. On the shelves of the museum are glass rockets, cosmonauts in spacesuits, planets of the Solar system. Very popular toys in the form of geometric shapes, stars, collected from beads and cylinders.

A separate stand is dedicated to Santa Claus and Snow Maiden, executed in different sizes. For adult visitors, these stands are a memory from childhood, and kids will be interested to see what their parents decorated the Christmas tree with.

Excursions for the little ones

Although "Klinskoe Podvorye" is a toy museum, there are theatrical performances for kids that will be remembered for a long time. The children are met by Mother Winter near the Christmas tree, gets to know them, makes riddles and sends them, accompanied by Bunny, to a tour through the halls of the museum.

In each room there is a character presenting the exposition, but especially the children like the Christmas trees hanging from the ceiling down the top. Unusual forest beauties are decorated with balls and tinsel, so one can only wonder why all this does not fall down.

In the last room of the kids there is a 10-meter long Christmas tree and Santa Claus and Snow Maiden. They lead dances, sing songs with children, play and, of course, light a Christmas tree. This is a show for the youngest viewers. The older children are waiting for other performances.

Programs for schoolchildren of grades 1-7

According to the reviews of children and parents, not only the museum exhibits leave a delightful impression of the excursion, but also the opportunity to see a fairy tale or to pass a master class on decorating Christmas balls. "Klinskoe podvorye" (photo shows it) is a wonderful place where children reveal their talents.

Painting a toy is an opportunity to show imagination and make a present to your mother and father with your own hands. Children especially like the workshop, where they hold master classes on the painting of glass balls. Each child is given a toy, painted in a bright color, on which you can paint your own drawing with special paints.

For schoolchildren of grades 1-7, Klinskoe Podvorye prepared a costume show "The Adventure of a Bead", during which its participants will tell the children how the tradition to decorate the Christmas tree and the history of the creation of the first glass toys was born. They will also find out what glass is made of and how to work with it.

Programs for high school students

Modern teenagers are difficult to surprise anything, but the museum "Klinskoe podvorye" (Klin) always succeeds. They are waiting for the post office of Father Frost, located in the Ice Palace. Children learn the history of the development of Russian mail and the courtyard of coachmen, on the site of which they built a factory and a museum.

The postman is depicted on the coat of arms of the city, which in itself is unique, since on the symbols of Russian cities, riders always depict warriors with weapons in their hands. The only peaceful rider is on the coat of arms of the town of Klin.

Meeting with Santa Claus will allow each student to send a letter with a request for a gift for the New Year. To do this, you must think ahead and write it down on a piece of paper.

Holidays in the "Klinsky Compound"

Not only Christmas performances are held in the museum, but also you can celebrate Shrovetide, the birthdays of Mother Zima, Domovoi and Matryoshka, and in the summer the children will receive an exciting program "Santa Claus and Summer."

The museum has a holiday all year round, so a trip here at any convenient time will be an unforgettable event.