The wardrobe from the museum’s collection was crafted in 1861. It was produced in one of the oldest German settlements in the Russian Empire — the Molochnoye Mennonite colony. It was located on the territory of the Taurida governorate in the south of the country. In the early 20th century, the wardrobe was brought to Omsk region by resettlers.
Mennonites were followers of one of the oldest early Protestant movements, which was formed during the Reformation of the 16th century in the Netherlands, Northern Germany, and Western Switzerland. Russian Mennonites were an ethnic-religious group of German origin.
Mennonites were known for their strict moral behavior. For example, in their villages in the Omsk region, the most important calendar holidays, such as Christmas, were quiet prayer meetings. Mennonites tried to live in accordance with the Commandments, in particular, to avoid taking up arms, and therefore they did not approve of military service. They were convinced that life was about working hard and achieving everything through one’s own labor.
Mennonites were a hardworking and most affluent category of resettlers, so the things their families owned were often factory-made or made to order. Among other things these included holiday china, furniture, reed organs, milk separators, butter churns, and ironing machines. The interior of a Mennonite home in the 20th century was adorned with wall clocks with pendulums and elegant chandeliers.
In 1997, Anna Gergardovna Vall, a resident of the Moskalensky district, donated this wardrobe to the museum. She was born in 1918 in the village of Ekaterinovka in the Mennonite family of the teacher and preacher Gergard Yakovlevich Enns. She inherited the wardrobe from her parents. This collapsible wooden piece of furniture was made without a single nail, allowing for more convenient transportation over long distances. The wood was varnished and its joinery was done with special skill. The participants of the Omsk Museum expedition presented Anna Gergardovna with a modern wardrobe in exchange for the one that was placed in the exhibition.
