Rivne Oblast

Rivne embroidery stands out for the oldest type of ornament, monochrome geometry, where form and rhythm do all the work rather than colour combinations. Even flowers and animal silhouettes are stitched in straight geometric proportions, mostly in red and black.

The Pohorynnia area has preserved archaic women's headscarves from the mid-19th century - rectangular, made of white linen. Today the embroiderers of the Zi Spratu creative workshop are bringing this item, known as the "four corners" scarf, out of the museum case and back into modern life. This process shows well what the vyshyvanka of Rivne and its region is today.

A headscarf rescued from oblivion

The distinctive feature of the "four corners" headscarf is the combination of several embroidery techniques at once - satin stitch, cross-stitch and in places retiaz chain stitch and stem stitch. The embroiderers study the ornaments, bring old techniques back to life and show that the Rivne vyshyvanka is not a frozen form but something that can be recreated from scratch today with only a museum piece as a guide.

This is not an isolated example: Rivne regularly hosts "Museum Visits", a festival started back in 1992, where folk artists of the Rivne and Volyn regions bring weaving, embroidery, crochet, vytynanky paper cuts and pysanky. A large part of the museum's collection comes from there.

What makes the Rivne vyshyvanka special

The oldest monochrome geometric ornament dominated here - elegantly simple and clear in composition. Monochrome means one colour: the whole effect comes from form and rhythm rather than colour combinations. That is why the vyshyvankas of Rivne and its region are considered the most archaic type of ornament among all 27 regions.

The word "elegantly" fits. When there are few elements, each one is in plain view and any inaccuracy shows at once, so a simple ornament takes no less skill than the denser neighbouring traditions.

The geometry by which the Rivne region is recognised

In summer 2022 the National Museum of Folk Architecture and Life of Ukraine in Pyrohiv showed the exhibition "The Mystery of Rivne Polissia" as part of the "Travel Ukraine" programme: serpanok weaving, geometric embroidery, amber jewellery and icons, old icons on wood and traditional costumes. Liubov Romaniuk, head of the culture and tourism department of the Rivne regional administration, told Suspilne that geometry is how craftspeople recognise Rivne embroidery: even flowers and animal silhouettes are embroidered here in straight geometric proportions, and the colours are red and black.

Next to the embroidery the exhibition showed Polissian serpanok, a technique of sparse weaving that produces extraordinarily light and delicate cloth. So in the display the Rivne vyshyvanka stood next to a fabric the region is also known for.

Named embroiderers and the zanyzuvannia technique

A scholarly work on Rivne embroidery specifically mentions Yevdokiia Zosiuk, an embroiderer from Orlivka who preferred plant ornament, and Teklia Shtyl and Halyna Hordiievych from Holubne, whose work gives up small details in favour of a unified overall image.

In the zanyzuvannia technique the intensity of the colour depends on the density of the stitch - sometimes it is bright red, sometimes pink. So even within one tradition, the shirts of different embroiderers can differ in brightness while formally being stitched in the same colour.

Who studied the Rivne shirt

The academic history of the Rivne vyshyvanka began with Polish ethnographers of the 1920s and 1930s. Art historian H. Vakhramieieva (2016) names among them A. Huzowska, author of "Folk Dress in the Zdolbuniv District of Volhynia" and "The Technique of Volhynian Embroidery", and J. Korzeniowska with "Polissian and Volhynian Embroidery". The Zdolbuniv area is part of today's Rivne Oblast, so this is one of the earliest descriptions of local dress.

Later R. Tyshkevych made a separate study of the embroidery art of Rivne Polissia (in the collection "Ethnocultural Heritage of Polissia", Rivne, 2004). According to Vakhramieieva, Polissian shirts are kept, among other places, in the local history museum of Rivne, alongside the collections of Lutsk, Zhytomyr, Chernihiv and Sumy.

Colours in Rivne vyshyvankas

In the vyshyvankas of Rivne and the surrounding villages red prevails, with small additions of blue or black. The linen is white-grey, flax, unbleached: on such a background red behaves differently than on pure white - it becomes muted rather than striking.

Ethnologist Yakiv Prylypko, as retold by Liudmyla Ponomar, noted that single-colour embroidery prevailed in Volhynia and linked the red single colour of Volhynian zanyzuvannia to the territory of the chronicle Volhynians. The Rivne region historically belongs to Volhynia, so the red vyshyvankas of the Rivne region are part of this old area.

The Rivne region and Volyn: a shared palette, different patterns

The Rivne region and Volyn have an almost identical palette, the same white-grey linen and a shared source in our description. But the Rivne and Volyn patterns differ in construction rather than colour.

The Volyn construction is more complex: nested figures create visual depth. Rivne vyshyvankas, by contrast, rely on pure repetition, so among the 27 regions the Rivne ornament is considered one of the most archaic in spirit, despite the later touches of colour.

An exhibition where thread becomes art

Rivne regularly holds exhibitions where embroiderers show embroidery and related techniques: one of them displayed about 130 pieces, including a collection of fifteen knitted pictures with complex plant compositions. Each element - a flower, a leaf - is knitted separately and only then assembled into a finished picture.

This shows that interest in handicraft in the Rivne region is not limited to embroidery in the narrow sense - local craftswomen work at the junction of several crafts at once, and this keeps the tradition alive even when the vyshyvanka becomes an exhibit rather than everyday clothing.

34 shirts from Berezne online

The Berezne Museum of Local History has digitised the 34 oldest shirts in its Volhynian Polissia collection, and they can now be viewed on the museum's website. Several main cuts are distinguished in the Berezne area: the tunic-like shirt, the shirt with shoulder inserts, the shirt with a one-piece sleeve and the yoke shirt. So the Rivne vyshyvanka has not only its own ornament but also a recognisable set of cuts.

Frequently asked questions

What does monochrome mean in Rivne ornament?

Built on a single colour. The whole effect comes from shape and the rhythm of repetition, not from colour combinations. Blue and black appeared later only as small additions to red.

How does Rivne embroidery differ from Volhynian?

Their palettes and greyish-white linen are almost identical, but the construction differs. Volhynian figures are set one inside another and give a sense of depth, while the Rivne pattern rests on pure, simple repetition.

Where can I see the living tradition today?

At the "Museum Visits" in Rivne, a festival held since 1992, where craftspeople from the Rivne and Volyn regions bring their work. And the Zi Spratu workshop is reviving the archaic "four corners" headscarf of the mid-19th century.

How do you recognise Rivne embroidery?

By its geometry. According to Liubov Romaniuk of the Rivne regional administration, even flowers and animals are embroidered here in straight geometric proportions, and the main colours are red and black.

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