The Alabin Regional History and Local Lore Museum provided its exhibition areas for  exposition from the funds of the Yelabuga Historical and Architectural Museum-Reserve. Visitors have the opportunity to get acquainted with exhibits that tell about the life, art and traditions of the Tatar people, which in our province ranks second in number after the Russian.

– The Middle Volga region is a powerful crossroads, where a huge number of peoples mixed in different eras, who crossed the Great Steppe, floated down and climbed up the Volga. An interesting cocktail of cultures was formed here. And our task is to preserve this diversity in every possible way, – said Andrey Kochetkov, director of the Alabin Museum.

Marina Zharkovskaya, Deputy Director General of the Elabuga Museum-Reserve, said that the exhibition had successfully visited five regions of Russia. It was prepared for the Year of Native Languages ​​and National Unity, which was declared 2021 in the Republic of Tatarstan.

The guests from Yelabuga have been welcomed      by representatives of Tatar public organizations of our region, as well as artists of art groups. No one was left indifferent by the performance of the talented original  Midekhat Aminov, who is fluent in ten national musical instruments. Traditional tunes performed by the “Idel” ensemble led by him won the hearts of the audience. Singer Iskandar Saitov brilliantly sang folk songs, and his daughter Almira bewitched the audience with the legend of the beautiful Kazan queen Syuyumbika. Pupils of the school “Yaktylyk” performed with an incendiary choreographic performance.

The exhibition of the Yelabuga Museum is called the encyclopedia of national culture. It clearly tells about everyday life, holidays, rituals and customs of the Tatar people. At the center of the exposition is the furnishings of a 19th-20th century house. It is not very different from the Russian hut. The same table with a samovar, a sideboard, a bed behind a curtain, a cradle. However, all the textile details of the decoration are unusually bright, covered with original patterns. And homespun paths on the floor, and curtains “charshau” located along the walls and mattress, and valances on the bed – “kashaga”, and curtains over it “chybyldyk”, and towels “solge” – all this was done by the hands of the hostess. We see that the houses of the Tatars were built of wood using the log-cut method and were decorated with carvings, like those of their Russian neighbors.

A separate stand tells about the ethnic groups of the descendants of the ancient Bulgars. Nearby are the costumes of each of them. The severity of the elegant black-and-purple dress of a resident of Kazan, decorated with a long plush vest and silver monists, is striking. The Kasimov Tatar wants to tell about the wealth in her family with the help of an attire woven with gold threads. Kryashenka is a representative of the inhabitants of the Volga and Urals baptized into Orthodoxy, on the contrary, wears a modest closed dress, decorated along the hem with an applique made of pieces of printed chintz. Instead of lush national headdresses, she covers her head with a white shawl embroidered with silk satin stitch. In a separate showcase, you can see women’s jewelry created by national craftsmen, as well as magnificently illustrated and richly decorated editions of the Koran. To this day, aphorisms written in Arabic script and “Shamili” – wall panels depicting holy places and mosques, accompanied by quotes from the holy book, are still used to decorate the Tatar dwelling. They can also be seen at the exhibition. There are interesting descriptions of the customs of the Tatar population, illustrated by colorful paintings by local artists.

The exhibition is open l run until August 29