Falcon Yard

The Falcon Yard is a household complex reconstructed in 2007 to remind us of the merlin aviary existing here in the second half of the XVII century, in the reign of Tsar Alexey Romanov.

Hunting birds were first of all used to chase feather game. As falcons were expensive, hunting with them was commonly known as ‘the sport of kings’. Kolomenskoe perfectly fit this royal kind of leisure, with plenty of open space and an abundance of water birds on the flood plain.

The Falcon Yard reconstruction was based on archive sources. Its main building, copying an authentic XIX century Kolomenskoe village house, serves as a permanent exhibition space. The exhibition it houses recreates the atmosphere in which XVII century royal falconers would live and work. Here you will learn the falconers’ professional terms, see the equipment used for training hunting birds, find out the history of this trade and better realize its value as cultural heritage.

Today, the Falcon Yard keeps three falcons, an eagle-owl, a hawk and a buteos.