The village of Gzhel is located in the Ramensky district of the Moscow region (45 kilometers from Moscow). The settlement, named after the Gzhelka River, passed, according to the will, to the son of Moscow Prince Ivan Kalita Ivan the Red. Then the settlement belonged to Dmitry I (Dmitry Donskoy) and, after his death, to Princess Sophia Vitovtovna.
The article tells about the emergence of Russian folk craft and about the exposition of the Gzhel Museum in Moscow.
History of Russian ceramics
The region of Gzhel was famous for its special clay composition. According to the tsar’s decree, from 1663 this fine-grained sedimentary rock was imported from Moscow to the Gzhel volost for the manufacture of pharmaceutical dishes.
Initially, various building materials and pottery products were manufactured. By the beginning of the 19th century, the region already had 25 small-scale enterprises using manual labor, which, in addition to dishes, produced various toys and decorative national sculptures.
After they discovered deposits of white earthenware clay near the village of Minino, the Kulikov brothers opened the first production of earthenware products in Russia in 1800, the preparation of which was kept a secret from competitors.
Therefore, the Kulikovs themselves prepared the material, having only one auxiliary dumb worker. The peculiarity of the Kulikov factory is that it was the basis of the Russian folk craft - the manufacture of porcelain products.
The second half of the XX century is marked by the development and improvement of folk art from clay mined in this territory. Now the main porcelain and faience enterprises of Russia function here.
The main production is the Open Joint-Stock Company Sin Rossii, whose products are mainly manufactured for export.
Moscow Museum
In the village of Turygino, which is part of the rural district of Gzhel (58 km from Moscow), there is a private museum "Gzhel". His expositions tell the story of Russian porcelain and faience.
The Gzhel Museum occupies an area of 395 m², where more than two thousand exhibits are collected. Guests of Turygino can see authentic works of Russian masters of the 15th century and products made by modern professionals in pottery.
The tour includes a visit to production workshops where you can familiarize yourself with the manufacturing processes of porcelain products and majolica (a type of ceramic).
It is very popular to familiarize in art workshops with the Russian national glassy coating on the surface of a ceramic product (glaze). Visitors to the Gzhel Museum can participate, under the supervision of potters, in the manufacture of ceramics. Thus, they can create a souvenir with their own hands to commemorate their stay in the museum of Russian ceramics.
