Dabaevna's Lace House

Dabaevna's Lace House is a private museum of lace and old everyday life in the village of Ust-Barguzin, Barguzinsky district of Buryatia, on the shore of Lake Baikal. The museum occupies a two-story wooden house at 65 Lenina Street, in the center of the village, within walking distance of the lake.

History

The museum's founder is collector Natalia Dabaevna Vasilyeva. She began building her collection more than 30 years ago. Eight years ago she returned to her home region, and in January 2023 she opened the museum in Ust-Barguzin.

According to Vasilyeva herself, she bought the first pieces of her collection — a kerosene lamp and some lace — from an elderly woman in an underpass, simply to help her through hard times. That meeting was the start of a collection that eventually grew into a museum.

Collection

The exhibition brings together objects from the 17th to the 21st century. The core of the collection is lace and embroidery in various techniques: towels, bed valances and women's underwear. A separate display case is devoted to miniature kerosene lamps — the museum has more than 150 of them.

Among the old clothing are batiste bonnets, undershirts and so-called "tsar's mittens." Some of the 19th- and 20th-century items, including pieces from St. Petersburg, entered the collection through family stories and gifts.

The museum's most unusual finds are a waffle iron from 1802 bearing the Russian coat of arms, scissors said to date from the 12th century, a 1917 wedding shirt displayed on a mannequin made of wooden blocks, and a corset made of whalebone. According to the museum's owner, the collection also includes a child's sailor suit that, by one account, may have belonged to Tsarevich Alexei.

Visitors can also see photographs of Soviet-era performers, USSR badges, spinning wheels, tapestries, porcelain and semi-precious stones.

Getting there

Ust-Barguzin lies on the road along the eastern shore of Lake Baikal. From Ulan-Ude the village is about 270 km away, roughly a 4-hour drive; from Irkutsk it is about 640 km. Scheduled buses run from Ulan-Ude to Ust-Barguzin, for example route No. 302, taking around 5 hours. The village can also be reached by boat from Irkutsk.

The museum is in the center of the village, at 65 Lenina Street.