Ulan-Ude, Russia

Ulan-Ude Ethnographic Museum

A uniquely authentic display of traditional Russian culture.

One of the largest museums in Russia, Ulan-Ude Ethnographic Museum is an open-air museum that hosts a variety of ethnic events each summer, with displays of traditional clothes and ways of life. If you can brave the weather, in winter the likelihood of running into other human beings at the museum is next to none.

The museum is a collection of local (Burytia region) traditional architecture, from Mongolian ger (aka yurt) to reindeer tepees, from barns to churches. Rather than being recent reconstructions, these dwellings were salvaged and transported to the museum grounds, giving it a level of authenticity that is often missing in museums of this kind.

Access to some buildings is allowed, and where it is not allowed you can peer from the front doors, which are usually open. Inside there is a wide array of artifacts including ancient furniture, wooden farming machinery, embroideries, carts and sleds.