Vasilyovo, Open-air museum in Torzhok District, Russia.
Vasilyovo is an open-air museum featuring wooden buildings from the 18th and 19th centuries brought together from across the Tver region, including churches, residences, and farm structures. The collection demonstrates regional construction styles and layouts characteristic of that historical period.
The estate was founded in the late 18th century by the Lvov family, a service gentry clan; the main house was built by the architect Nikolai Lvov, a distant relative and a native of Tver Governorate. The house burned down, and only the outline of its foundations remains on the ground. The open-air museum was created in 1976–1977 to a design by the architect A. V. Opolovnikov, and wooden buildings from across Tver Oblast were moved here.
The place showcases how people in the Tver region constructed and arranged their daily lives over centuries. The relocated wooden buildings reveal traditional building methods and the way families organized their farmsteads and homes.
A circular walking path guides you past the different buildings and structures throughout the grounds. Local heritage guides offer tours in Russian and can explain the purpose and history of each building.
The single-arch boulder bridge over the stream is about 100 metres long and was built by the architect Nikolai Lvov using the archivolte technique, with grottoes in the stonework. Locals know it as the "Devil's Bridge", a name taken from the "Devil's Island" in the stream mentioned by a local historian in a 1960s guidebook.
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