Half-timbered buildings were common in medieval Western Europe. (In the Polenov estate, almost all farm buildings were half-timbered. The half-timbered structure, the building’s frame, was usually wooden and consisted of horizontal elements and braces, with the free space between them filled with stone. The half-timbering was not only a structural element but also a decorative one, dividing the facade into panels of various shapes and giving the building a distinctive appearance.) The half-timbered barn was built in 1895 from limestone, known as “Tarusa marble.” During the estate’s operational period, it housed garden tools on the end side, while the largest room on the facade was Ivan Mikhailovich Nikishin’s carpentry workshop, where, according to Polenov’s drawings, boats were made for the Polenov fleet. The eastern end served as a granary where horse feed was stored. The barn was referred to as “Uncle Ivan’s barn.”
In the half-timbered barn, a full cycle of restoration and repair work was carried out in the 1980s and early 1990s. Today, the half-timbered barn serves as an exhibition hall, hosting exhibitions from the museum’s collections related to significant events in the lives and work of the Polenov family and the estate.
- “Artistic Traditions of the Polenov Family”
- Exhibitions for the anniversaries of V. D. Polenov and his students
- “V. D. Polenov and Artists of His Circle”
- Anniversary of the first main curator of the Polenov Museum, Elizaveta Alexandrovna Chernysheva, granddaughter of S. I. Mamontov
- “Natalia’s Day” – works by N. V. Polenova the elder and N. V. Polenova the younger
- “Three Sisters” – about the work of V. V. Vulff, N. V. Polenova, and M. V. Yakunchikova
- “Continuation of Family Traditions” – works by the Polenovs’ daughter, Maria Vasilyevna Lyapina-Polenova
- “They Preserved the Museum” – about the Polenov children and those for whom “Polenovo” became their destiny
