One of the oldest open-air museums with monuments of Russian wooden architecture was founded in 1955 in Kostroma, next to another main city attraction, the Trinity-Ipatiev Monastery.

The idea to create an original museum did not come up immediately. Initially, the idea was to save ancient architectural monuments from floods in Kostroma and Nizhny Novgorod oblasts (regions). That is how the first exhibit, the 18th-century Transfiguration Church from Spas-Vezhi village, appeared. Later, the Сhurch of the Blessed Virgin Mary (1552), the oldest wooden temple in Central Russia, and the Church of All-Merciful Saviour (1712) became part of the monastery. They set the stage for one of the most visited tourist places in Kostroma.

The name of the museum also changed many times: from the Museum of Wooden Architecture in the 1960s to the modern Kostroma State Historical, Architectural, and Art Museum-Reserve “Kostromaskaya Sloboda”.

The Church of Elijah the Prophet brought from Upper Berezovets village deserves particular attention. Scientists have not determined the exact age of construction and creation of the luxurious interior: the carved wooden four-tiered iconostasis and vault covered with homespun canvas, depicting scenes of the Passion of Christ.

Besides cult monuments, the Trinity-Ipatiev Monastery regularly received wooden peasant huts and outbuildings: barns, windmills, bathhouses of the 19-20th centuries. More than 30 monuments of ancient wooden architecture turned into a picturesque ethnographic village, and a colorful themed exposition was opened inside each building.

Today, “Kostromaskaya Sloboda” is a significant historical museum, a setting for numerous Russian films, and a spot for bright, costume festivals and folk holidays in the finest tradition of Tsarist Russia.