The Rjurik Lonin Museum of Veps Ethnography in Shyoltozero (; ) is a museum located in Shyoltozero (Veps à  outjärvâÂÂ) in the Republic of Karelia in the PrionezhskiàDistrict, located 84 km south of Petrozavodsk, the capital of the republic.
The museum was founded in 1967 by a Veps resident of the Sholtozero village, sovkhoz worker Rjurik Lonin (1930âÂÂ2009), who was originally from the Kaskez' village, likewise located in the PrionezhskiàDistrict, at the southern border of the Karelian Republic.
Lonin had been interested in collecting folklore already in his early years during the Finnish occupation of his home area in the Second World War. Later, when he was living in Petrozavodsk, Nikolai Bogdanov, a researcher of the Veps language in the Karelian branch of the Soviet Academy of Sciences, in the Department of Languages, Literature and History (YALI), encouraged Lonin to collect Veps folklore. When he was travelling in the Veps villages in the Republic of Karelia and the Leningrad Oblastâ in 1964, Lonin realised that there was a need to collect specimens of the material culture of the Veps people:
Artefacts began to accumulate in Lonin's house so that the attic, the wood shed and even the living quarters were full of all kinds of things. Soon the collection was so large that the wife began to nag about it.
During the next few years Lonin repeatedly turned to the Sholtozero Selsoviet asking for premises for a museum, but to no effect. Finally, in 1967, just before the festivities of the 50th anniversary of the Russian Revolution, the village soviet gave Lonin two rooms in the building of the village library, which was located near House of Culture (the former church building) in the Dokuc' neighbourhood of the village. As the opening day approached, the vice director of the Karelian Local Heritage Museum, Yefrem Rybak came to Sholtozero, but he had many doubts about the museum project. However, after he had become acquainted with Lonin, his collections and his ideas, he decided to help him. The museum was opened on 28 October 1967, a week before the anniversary of the Revolution. One of the rooms presented the Veps culture of the pre-Revolutionary times, the other concentrated on contemporary culture in the Veps villages. One stand was dedicated to the Veps people and the people of Sholtozero and their exploits in the Great Patriotic War.
When the museum had nearly 3000 artefacts in its collections, it was given a building in the Hamamättaz neighbourhood. In accordance with the decision of the Karelian Ministry of Culture, from the beginning of 1980, the museum became a branch of the Karelian Local Heritage Museum, and it was now called the Branch of Veps Ethnography. Lonin now became a full-time employee of the museum.
In the 1980s, the museum was given new premises in the so-called MelâÂÂkin House in the MelâÂÂkamättas ('MelâÂÂkin's Hill') neighbourhood, where it is now located. According to the home pages of the museum, this house "was built in the mid-19th century and it is a monument of Karelian wooden architecture". This house was built by Ivan MelâÂÂkin, who was a famous stonemason, known for his work with porphyry stone. According to Lonin, MelâÂÂkin built the Red Bridge or the Theater Bridge that crosses the Griboyedov Canal, and in the past this bridge was known as "MelâÂÂkin Bridge". The last master of the house was Ivan VasilâÂÂyevich MelâÂÂkin. The last noteworthy representative of this family was Nikolai MelâÂÂkin (born 1929), who was a prominent and long-time member of the Sholtozero Veps National Choir.
The Tuchin House, located behind the MelâÂÂkin House, is also part of the museum. This house was originally located in the village of Kalinansar', along the road to MatfejanselâÂÂg (Matfeyeva SelâÂÂga), and it was moved to its present location in 1977. During the Finnish occupation its residents were DmitriàYegorovich Tuchin and his wife Maria MihaÃÂlovna Tuchina. DmitriàTuchin functioned as the village elder in the Finnish administration, but he also accommodated Soviet partisans in his house. The novel The Operation in the Vacuum Zone by Oleg Tikhonov tells about the activities of DmitriàTuchin during the war. An excerpt of this novel has been published in Finnish in the journal Punalippu ('The Red Flag').
A well known resident of this house during the war was Sylvi Paaso, a Finnish-born Soviet partisan and radio operator, who kept the Soviet troops up to date on the movements of the Finnish troops along Lake Onega.
The name of the museum is, as of May 2010, the Rjurik Lonin Museum of Veps Ethnography in Sholtozero (Russ. èeûÃÂþ÷õÃÂÃÂúøù òõÿÃÂÃÂúøù ÃÂÃÂýþóÃÂðÃÂøÃÂõÃÂúøù üÃÂ÷õù øüõýø à. ÃÂþýøýð) in honour of its founder. The collections of the museum consist of ca. 6000 artefacts, of which, according to the museum, 2000 are on display. The museum is said to have up to 4000 visitors every year.
The director of the museum is Ms. NatalâÂÂya Ankhimova, originally from the Ogerià ¡t village in the nearby Vehkoi.