History of Saint-Petersburg: Cultural traditions of Russians from the Okhta Sloboda in the XIX century presented at the exhibition of the Russian State Ethnographic Museum

A thematic exhibition "...A Hurried Okhta Woman with a Jug...". Cultural Traditions of Russians from the Okhta Sloboda of Saint-Petersburg in the XIX Century. The Collection of the Russian State Ethnographic Museum" was opened in the historical exposition "The World of Saint-Petersburg Water", on the 3rd floor of the Water Tower.

It is a joint project of the "Universe of Water" Exhibition Complex and the Russian State Ethnographic Museum as part of the "Man and Water" large-scale project.

The exhibition "...A Hurried Okhta Woman with a Jug..." presents the collection of the Russian State Ethnographic Museum. It introduces the cultural traditions of Russians who lived in the vicinity of Saint-Petersburg in the XIX century. In the XVIII - early XX centuries, many famous Petersburg residents spoke and wrote about the ethnocultural identity of the people from Okhta Sloboda, located at the space where the Okhta River meets the Neva - the main waterway of the city.

City residents called the local people "Okhta natives" describing their specific way of life and culture, connected, first of all, with the location of their settlements - "beyond the Neva, on the Okhta". The Okhta was separated from Saint-Petersburg not by a considerable distance but by the natural border - the Neva. In winter, the Okhta residents used the way on the ice, and in the summer, they crossed the river in boats since there were no bridges. In Saint-Petersburg, Okhta men were famous as good carpenters and furniture makers. People highly appreciated their wives - "Okhta milkmaids" (milk traders). Okhta women could be identified in the city by their appearance, which included specific elements of Russian and Dutch folk dress. Another characteristic feature of their image was jugs or cans of milk. The milkmaids carried them in their traditional baskets on a yoke. Saint-Petersburg artists and photographers often depicted Okhta milkmaids. Nowadays, a monument to the Okhta milkmaid appeared in the Neva Park on Okhta.

The exhibition will run until September 26, 2021.