Matyushi. The Local history Museum of the school.

Twenty kilometers from Polotsk, among the hilly landscapes of Vitebsk region, a small village named Matyushi was lost. For the casual traveler, this is just a point on the map, but for those who are interested in the true history of the region, a stop here is mandatory. It is in this modest settlement that there is a unique cultural institution — the local museum, which can rightfully be called the soul of this land.

After crossing the threshold of this museum, you find yourself in a completely different dimension, where time flows in a different way. The initiative to create the museum belonged to local enthusiastic teachers, veterans, and simply caring residents who decided half a century ago: the history of their small homeland should not have the right to be forgotten.

The first thing that catches your eye is the richest ethnographic collection. The Belarusian Hut exposition recreates the interior of peasant housing in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Everything here is authentic: homespun towels with geometric patterns typical of Linen, heavy linen tablecloths, pottery from local potters and a massive loom where you can still see the work that has begun.

The guests are particularly thrilled with household items collected from the surrounding farms. Wooden barrels for honey, churns, fancy rocker arms and the famous Polotsk "kufar" (chests) — each exhibit has its own story. The guides (often local residents) do not just name dates, but tell us about the fates of the people to whom these things belonged.

A separate hall is dedicated to the tragic and heroic pages of the Great Patriotic War. The Polotsk land was one of the first to take the enemy's blow and lived under occupation for three long years. The museum in Matyushi preserves the memory of the partisan movement, which was especially powerful in the local forests.

On the stands there are yellowed photographs, triangle letters from battlefields, awards and personal belongings of fighters. The central place is occupied by a diorama reproducing one of the episodes of the liberation of the area. Among the exhibits is a real dugout of a partisan detachment, recreated from the memories of eyewitnesses. Helmets, shell casings, a bullet-riddled banner - these relics, found by search teams at the battlefields, make the heart beat faster and remind of the terrible price of Victory.

The museum in Matyushi actively collects materials about famous countrymen. These are scientists, cultural figures, and leaders of Soviet-era production. The stands tell about the Heroes of Socialist Labor, the workers of the local collective farm, who raised agriculture with their labor in the difficult post-war years.

A special place is occupied by the exposition dedicated to folk craftsmen. Skilled wood carvers, embroiderers and songwriters have always lived in Matyushi and the surrounding area.

The museum has become not just a repository of their work, but also a platform for the transfer of skills: workshops for children and adults are regularly held here, where they teach you to weave from vine and bake traditional Polotsk draniki (potato pancakes).

Today, the museum in Matyushi is not just a collection of antiquities. It is a real cultural and spiritual center of the rural hinterland. Calendar holidays are celebrated here: noisy Christmas Carols, merry Carnival with pancakes and Kupala. Schoolchildren from Polotsk and Novopolotsk, tourists from Minsk and foreign guests who want to see the real, non-fancy Belarus come here for excursions.