Keyring Semenov style

Traditional style Semenov / Semenyov matryoshka / nesting doll / Russian doll

The first matryoshka ( nesting doll ) was produced by Sergei Malutin in Sergiev Posad in 1890 painted on a set of dolls produced by Vasily Zvyozdochkin. As Matryoshki became popular other places such as Vyatka and Semenov also started specialising in their production.

This set is from the Semenov (Семенова) region just north of Nizhni Novgorod. The town is first mentioned in the 17th Century and is likely named after someone called Semenov. Along with Vyatka it is one of the main centres of Matryoshki production. The style of doll is normally dark haired, dark eyed with yellow and red colours dominating and they were first produced in this town in 1918.

These wooden toys are a great way to help kids to develop hand and eye coordination (recommended for children three years and above). You can stack the nesting dolls on top of each other or maybe play a little game of guess what’s inside with your little ones. Whatever game you want to play, and whatever you call these dolls, whether stacking dolls, nesting dolls, Russian dolls or Matryoshka your kids will enjoy the real life interaction and the fun.

We should add that these matryoshka are not traditionally called Babushka dolls and that babushka actually means grandmother in Russian.

Imported by Babushka / Babushkas the original Matryoshki* specialist / Melbourne / Dunedin / Berkshire

* Russian nesting dolls / Russian stacking dolls - matryoshki is plural and matryoshka singular.