Meshchyora dugout joins the museum flotilla

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Last Updated on Friday, 22 September 2017 12:05

A new boat has become a part of the museum flotilla – the Meshchyora dugout was donated to Ship’s Revival historical and cultural centre during a handover ceremony at the Friedrichsburg Gate on September 22.
The event was attended by museum employees, cadets and students as well as Alexey Artyukhin, head of Roshal Urban Okrug (Moscow Oblast), and Yuri Belousov, The Heart of Meshchyora project manager, general producer of Good Song international festival and deputy head of Roshal Urban Okrug, to meet the newcomer all together. By the way, it is thanks to Yuri Belousov the boat has arrived to the museum. The thing is that he was born in Kaliningrad but later moved to Moscow Oblast. In 2016, enthusiasts from The Heart of Meshchyora local history club in Roshal decided to revive the ancient Kupala rite – dugout race. The ethnographic research team led by Yuri Belousov met shipwrights who know the old secrets of making “the black boats”. By summer 2017, seven vessels were built by the traditional technique: six of them are going to take part in Meshchyora Race 2017 this September and the seventh boat has joined the museum flotilla in Kaliningrad devoted to traditional vessels from all over the world.