Mamayeva Sloboda, the Church Gate	Cossack Mamay	Mamayeva Sloboda in May

Address: 2, Mikhaila Dontsa Street, Kiev
Phone number: +38 (044) 361-98-48
Opening hours: daily, from 10 a.m. till 12 a.m.

This land in the broad valley of the Lybid River used to belong to Mikhailovskiy Golden-Domed Monastery. Great Fruit Park appeared here at Soviet times. In 1990, on the eve of our independence, agreement on creation of culture- ethnographic center “Mamayeva Sloboda” was signed. Almost 20 years have passed since then and the Center was opened in July 2009. Now there are 98 constructions, reproducing Ukrainian village of Cossacks era, on its territory.

Mamayeva Sloboda is called “Pirogovo in Miniature”, comparing it to the famous and the oldest in the country open-air ethnographic museum in the south of the capital. But despite of similarity of appearance and formal resemblance, Mamayeva Sloboda carries different message: it is not a collection of museum exhibits, but a modern park in style of Ukrainian historic tradition, like many similar establishments in countries of Europe. All the constructions here were built according to authentic old drawings, paintings and measurements. The three-headed wooden Church of Intercession of the Most Holy Mother of God, standing in the middle of Sloboda, reproduces the Temple of the same name in Zaporozhskaya Sech of Bogdan Khmelnitskiy times. Painters and engravers did great job with interior of the Church – it must be one of the most gorgeously decorated Churches in style of Cossacks Baroque, built lately. At the same time, the Church is cozy and compact inside. The wooden walls give the feeling of almost home warmness and comfort – on cold frosty days, during autumn slush and rainy weather it is always cozy here. The carving of the Iconostasis of the Temple is gorgeous. It is worth comparing with the best works of masters of past epochs.

Why was Sloboda called Mamayeva? The main character in Ukrainian folklore and, in particular, in painting, is so-called “Cossack Mamay”. He is usually depicted, sitting cross-legged with a pipe in his mouth and musical instrument “kobza” in his hands. Cossack Mamay`s image became embodiment of the best national features, summary image of defender of Motherland, object of girls` dreams and symbol of Cossack spirit; it decorated the “red corner” along with icons and was often hung in churches, especially if the founder or Maecenas of the Temple was depicted as Cossack Mamay.

Entourage and everyday life of a Cossack village, peculiarities of life of different layers of population of 17^th-18^th century are reproduced in detail in Mamayeva Sloboda. Estate of Sotnik (commander of Cossack Squadron and superintendent of the parish, where the Cossacks, attached to the Squadron, lived) represents a stone construction of that epoch. Houses of a potter and a blacksmith, home of a priest, a mill on a small island, a tavern, belonging to a Jew-tenant and even the hut of a fortune-teller- midwife – all these constructions from everyday life and folklore of our ancestors become accessible and tangible in Mamayeva Sloboda. And tangible in the literal sense of the word: Unlike in Pirogovo or other museums of ancient architecture, one can touch exhibits, sit on the benches and take pictures on cannons. There is a non Cossack object in Mamayeva Sloboda – a Skiff woman, standing on the hill. But she is very appropriate here: Cossacks made hills over graves of their comrades and chiefs by the example of Skiff burial mounds. Sometimes only this sullen idols of distant ancestors of our inhabitants of steppe regions served Zaporozhye Cossacks reference marks in their campaigns, saw their battles with enemies, became the only witnesses of their death.

Numerous fruit trees, peculiar to this latitude, give the feeling of being present in a true Ukrainian village. Among them there are petiolate oak trees, lime and cherry trees, snowball, periwinkle, lily. As we can see, their very names are associated with Ukraine, with works of its writers, poets and painters. As a full-fledged ethnographic park, Mamayeva Sloboda helps to feel Ukrainian tradition in all its depth, including culinary one. Four types of cuisine can be tasted here: rating (so-called “noble”), petty bourgeois (urban), peasant and Cossacks` (field, Zaporozhye). Not only dishes and drinks are created according to receipts of our grandfathers, but even tableware was made on special order, using ancient examples. All personnel of Mamayeva Sloboda are dressed in traditional Cossack garments.

Festivals and events, timed to Ukrainian folk religious calendar, are regularly held in the park. Christmas, Epiphany, New Year and Christmastide, Easter and Pancake week, Midsummer night, October Cossack Intercession, Makovey - this mix of ceremonies, peculiar to culture of our ancestors, are scrupulously reproduced on the territory of Mamayeva Sloboda. Christening and wedding ceremonies, conducted in accordance with traditional Ukrainian rites, are held in the Church.

Mamayeva Sloboda, a Cossack woman	Mamayeva Sloboda, stone hut of a blacksmith	Mamayeva Sloboda, Kiev