If you read my previous article about my home city, I hope I convinced you that Kyiv ranks high among the top destinations in Eastern Europe. So while you are picking and choosing attractions you want to visit there, I'll tell you about this one particular hidden gem that I regard as one of the most interesting and unusual places in beautiful Kyiv. It's called Pyrohiv, an outdoor museum of Ukrainian folk architecture. Pyrohiv is like a time capsule that allows you to take a glimpse of what Ukraine was like a few hundred years ago.

The basic idea behind this museum is not new. All the artifacts including houses, churches, windmills, barns, draw wells, beehives, etc. are all original and brought to Pyrohiv from all over Ukraine in pieces, and then rebuilt on the spot.

A nice thing about Pyrohiv is that it replicates landscapes of the regions it showcases. For instance, you'll find rolling hills in the Carpathian region, or a grassy field in the Dnipro lowlands region.

Brick and stone houses were more common in cities, while countryside houses were built from wood and clay.

A roof would be made from wooden studs covered with hay.

Hay was also used as a floor carpet. As an added bonus, hay from wildflowers such as thyme, lavender or sagebrush brings a nice scent to the house.

A typical countryside school.

To make sure you're fully immersed in the heritage of the past, the museum often hosts folk festivals, concerts and fairs. Actors dress in authentic clothing, offer traditional dishes cooked on-site, and sell crafts, goods, food and whatever else people would have been selling back then.

There are over a few dozen of those events per year, so you're guaranteed to attend one any time of the year if you really want.
We happened to attend a folk concert featuring artists from Canada (pictured below).

Traditional customs and games allow you to discover ways people had fun before all the modern inventions we're so used to such as the Internet or even electricity.

Local craftsmen offer on-site workshops on pottery.

Musicians play traditional musical instruments such as cymbals or lira.

The former is quite sophisticated to learn how to play.

The wooden Orthodox church circa 1742 brought from modern-day Cherkasy Oblast is run by an active parish which is quite unusual for a museum.

Its old iconostasis, a wall of icons and religious paintings that separates the nave from the sanctuary is quite spectacular.