Ethnographic Museum in the Open Air in Kozmodemyansk

The Ethnographic Museum in the Open Air is an outdoor complex featuring traditional buildings, farm structures, and agricultural equipment from the region. The various buildings show how people once farmed, built homes, and organized their work.

The museum was founded in 1983 to preserve the architecture and culture of the Mari people. Its creation was driven by a need to safeguard traditional knowledge and building methods from disappearing.

The museum displays original Mari dwellings and household items that show how people lived and worked in this region. Walking through the buildings, you can see how families organized their daily lives and what tools they used.

The museum is set outdoors and is best visited in good weather. You will need comfortable shoes since you walk between the different buildings across the grounds.

Many of the buildings were transported from different Mari villages and rebuilt using their original materials and techniques. This makes the museum a kind of living archive of real homes that were actually lived in by people.