Exhibition "Not the Last Shirt"

About exhibition

The exhibition will introduce you to the most interesting examples of traditional men's and women's shirts from the 19th–20th centuries from the museum's collection. The central figure of the display is the shirt — one of the most significant garments worn closest to the body. It not only served a practical purpose, warming and decorating its wearer, but was also endowed with magical meanings that accompanied a person throughout life: from birth to death. The National Museum of Karelia's holdings include about 100 men's and women's shirts; nearly half of them — 40 items — will be exhibited. Visitors will have a unique opportunity to learn about the clothing traditions of different peoples of Karelia and to see how the garments of northern and southern Karelians, Vepsians, Pomors, Zaonezhans, and Pudozhans were decorated and differed from one another. The collection will help lovers of antiquities see and appreciate items that held special value for our ancestors — pieces made from various home-produced and factory fabrics, hand embroidery, and rare elements of festive dress. Visitors will learn how, in earlier times in Karelia, shirts were used to 'program' the future sex of a child, care for newborns, attract the attention of young men to young women, help a new wife enter her husband's household, and promote the success of agricultural work.