Smith’s Yard

The Smith’s Yard complex is situated in Bolshaya (lit. ‘Large’) Street and comprises two dwelling houses, a smithy and a barn. The smithy is a reconstructed workshop of a XIX century master. Here you can see a functioning forge - a big fireplace where the master would heat metal blanks. Temperature in the forge can reach 1,550 °C. 

The smith’s house is mostly wooden, with a brick basement. The permanent exhibition inside illustrates everyday life at the turn of the XX century: there is a big Russian stove with a sleeping bench on the top, a baby cradle, a brass samovar (rather large metallic container for boiling water for tea) and a heavy cast press-iron. Many details hint at the house owner’s profession: for example, the bed and the stool are metal forged. 

The exhibition gives you an idea not only about the smith’s life but also about his work. At the smithy, a modern master demonstrates all the stages of the forging process: heats metal in the forge, moves it to the anvil and gives it shape with a hammer. 

Did you know that…

• In the XIX century, there were two smithies at Kolomenskoe. Nowadays, there are still two of them, the other one makes part of the Horse Yard complex.
• Though the smith was an important figure at any village, his yard was usually situated on the outskirts. That was done for fear of a big fire - in a smithy there always is a large fire with sparks.