Museum complex of ancient folk crafts and technologies «Dudutki»

The history of the museum

Have you ever had to forge anything other than your own happiness? For example, a horseshoe - a real one, unbent, made of bright hot metal. No? Then Dudutki is the place to visit.

If officially, «Dudutki» is a museum complex of ancient folk crafts and technologies 40 kilometres from Minsk. But as a matter of fact it is a whole world of professions, skills and antiquities among the beautiful Belarusian nature, where there are 9 workshops, a mill, a temple, a bakery, a brewery, dozens of pets, old cars and much more. All this is terribly interesting and guarantees a lot of emotions!

In the old days, four hundred years ago, this was a nobleman's estate. In the 18th century, Dudutki became famous for its fairs and celebrations. And in 1994, Evgeny Budinas, a Belarusian journalist and entrepreneur, built an open-air museum here. To be more precise, a whole village-museum, where each house has its own workshop, exhibition hall or an ancient dining room, where people will be told, shown, tought and treated.

The Street of Masters

The main «highway» of the village is the Street of Masters. It has workshops, one of which is a pottery shop. It is known that this type of activity has been mastered in Belarus since times immemorial , even before our era. It had been especially developed by the XVII century. The works of professionals of that time were even exported abroad and that was because of the quality and the beauty. Our contemporary potter of the 21st century, in today's Duduki, will show you wonderful metamorphoses on a potter's wheel - turn a piece of clay into a real jug. And at the same time, he will tell you about the intricacies of his craft and play on a hand-made clay whistle.

From here the street leads to the workshop, where the wood is tamed. By the 12th century Belarusians had already mastered all methods of wood processing: carving, joiner, lathe. And how else? Everything was made of wood - and what they ate on, and what they sat on, what children were dadled in, where they lived and where they prayed. The owner of the modern workshop will show you how many different kinds of beauty can be made with hands from what grows everywhere in Belarus.

At the end of the street there is a smithy. The smith has always been a respected person. There is not only a need for skill, but also strength, a certain talent and the ability to make friends with fire and metal. A true master from Dudutki will not only tell you about all this, but will also help you forge that very horseshoe, by your own. With a real, adult hammer - on a bright and flexible metal. Lucky for you.

Various handicrafts have taken root on Masters Street. There they weave straw, weave fabrics, bake bread, cook cheese, and even distill moonshine. And all these processes are shown. And everything is told in detail. And they give it a try. And they sell it if you want.

What else to see in Dudutki?

However, this museum island in the middle of Belarusian fields is famous not only for the crafts. There is also a farm in Duduki, and there are animals of all kinds! Wild boars and domestic boars. Goats, sheep and deer. There are also pheasants, peacocks, chesars and ubiquitous hens. Even ostriches roam around the spacious aviary. They are not burdened with intelligence, of course, but their size is impressive. There is also a stable with pedigreed horses, where the whole your caboodle can ride on a horseback or on a road cart.

In Duduki, there are not only live horses, but also iron horses - a whole retro showroom with a fleet of old cars. There is also an aerodrome! Light-engine Yak-52, Cessna, Ikarus will show you the scenery from a bird's eye view.

Besides this diversity and abundance, there is another very important attraction in Duduki - nature. You can spend the whole day outdoors and in the middle of beauty. Once you are there,  you can relax, buy delicious things, sit in a cozy gazebo, take a look at an elegant landscape and enjoy it to the full. So that you can never forget this day again.

And the horseshoe - yes, it needs to be brought home and hung above the door. Then happiness is sure to come. It will come for sure. But its beginning is in Duduki.