Toy Museum Sergiev Posad

Sergiev Posad made toys for centuries, supplying the pilgrims who came to the monastery, and the museum founded in 1918 by the collector Nikolai Bartram holds the national collection - around a hundred and fifty thousand items, of which a fraction is shown. The matryoshka is the reason most people come: the first Russian nesting doll was turned around 1890, usually credited to Vasily Zvyozdochkin with Sergei Malyutin painting it, after a Japanese nesting figure that was in circulation in the Abramtsevo circle, and the earliest known set is here - a girl in a headscarf with seven inside. The rest ranges wider than that: carved wooden peasant toys, clay figures, dolls of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, imperial children's toys, tin and mechanical pieces, and Soviet production. The building sits on the hill opposite the Trinity Lavra with the monastery in the window.

What you actually see

• The first matryoshka - the earliest known nesting set, from around 1890.
• The peasant toys - carved and clay figures made here for pilgrim trade.
• The imperial children's toys - pieces from the households of the last Romanovs.
• The monastery view - the Lavra across the valley from the museum windows.

When to go

All year. One to two hours, combined with the monastery. Closed Mondays and Tuesdays.

Honest expectations

Only a small share of the collection is on display. Labelling is Russian. Opening days are limited, so check before travelling. The museum is up a hill from the monastery and the walk is steep.

Nearby

The Trinity Lavra is across the valley; Abramtsevo is about 20 km south.