The Street of Ancient Crafts is part of the historical reconstruction park “Horodyshche Ostvytsia” in Rivne, where traditional crafts of Polissia and Volyn are taught in wooden houses modeled after ancient dwellings. It was opened on June 22, 2024.
The park has been developed since 2019 on an Old Rus’ hillfort above Basovyi Kut. It was founded by the historical reconstruction club “Ostvytsia,” headed by Yurii Oitsius. The concept was developed together with Dmytro Kotliarov, taking Biskupin—the Lusatian culture hillfort in Poland—as a model. The city urban planning council approved the park’s concept in February 2020.
Houses and Workshops
The park is laid out in a circle shaped like the letter “O”: from the tower at the entrance, a path leads around the circle past the historical section and animal enclosures. The Street of Ancient Crafts begins with the Hospitable House—a hexagonal Polissian house reconstructed based on ethnographic descriptions. Here, Polissian rituals are demonstrated, children play traditional games, and they teach how to make wooden toys, such as a windmill modeled after a master from Swarytsevychi in Sarny district.
Next is the Clay Workshop with a wooden roof, where they work on a potter’s wheel, and the Craft Workshop, where they weave Kupala wreaths and protective wreaths from herbs and work with straw. There is also a healer’s house on the street. During construction, the walls were reconstructed based on archaeological data, while the roofs, which archaeologists have not found, were made following ethnographic samples.
The workshops operate on Saturdays and Sundays during the warm season.
Photo: Suspilne Rivne
Drakkar, Boat, and Dugouts
The most famous feature at Ostvytsia is the wooden boats. There are seven here: three sailboats, three dugouts, and the “Urnes” boat. The club’s first boat is the drakkar “Gungnir,” a reduced copy of the Varangian boat from the Gokstad ship, the original of which was 25 meters long. It was built in 2019 in the yard of the Rivne Regional Museum of Local Lore and named after Odin’s spear. The other sailboats are the Scandinavian faring “Laisve” and the nabijna lod’ “Lada,” an Old Rus’ dugout with sewn-on sides.
One of the dugouts, a four-meter poplar one, was gifted in 2021 from Tynne in Sarny district. A separate exhibit is an oak dugout almost 10 meters long, which the club raised from the bottom of the Sluch River near Berezne during the 2020 drought. It is dated to the late 16th – early 17th century.
In winter, the boats are kept under a shelter near the workshop. The Basovyi Kut boat ride season opens in mid-March when the drakkar is the first to be launched into the water.
Photo: Suspilne Rivne
Where It Is
The “Horodyshche Ostvytsia” park is located in Rivne on the shore of Basovyi Kut, on the site of an Old Rus’ hillfort. Tourist routes to other hillforts in the Horyn basin start from here. Entrance to the park is through a wooden tower, next to which is a sheepfold with sheep.
In autumn, part of the lirnyk ethno-festival “LiraFest” takes place at Ostvytsia; 2025 will be its twelfth edition. The festival features lirnyky, kobzars, and bandurists performing, as well as workshops on embroidery, pysanka painting, ceramics, and bead weaving.
