Staroustinsky Local History Museum

About museum

At the Staroustinsky Local History Museum you can learn about the features of peasant life at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, as well as about life in Staroustye and the surrounding villages during the Soviet era. The small museum room is a treasury of authentic items and allows visitors to study local history. The museum’s main attraction is a unique collection of painted Raskaty chests, named after the village of Raskaty, where the main center of their production was located. These chests were made to order for wedding celebrations and typically bore the wedding date and the bride’s name. The painting on the chests is imbued with wedding symbols: a tree (or flowers)—the symbol of the bride—is always present in the center of the front panel, while geometric decoration, mainly diamonds and squares, sits at the sides. Raskaty chests played an important role in the Voskresensky District: on the wedding day they were bought out and then transported from the bride’s house to the groom’s house, followed by the whole village.