Matryoshka is the most famous and most popular of all Russian souvenirs. The traditional design of nesting dolls is still the image of a young Russian woman dressed in a national costume and with a headscarf. In a classic matryoshka, all set dolls look almost identical, and the number of dolls in the kit varies from 5 to 30.
It is believed that the first Russian doll was born in 1890 in the workshop of the Abramtsevo estate of the new Moscow. The owner of the estate was Savva Mamontov - an industrialist and philanthropist.
Until the end of the 90s of the 19th century, matryoshka dolls were manufactured in the Moscow workshop, and after its closure the production moved to the training and demonstration workshops of Sergiev Posad near Moscow. In fact, Sergiev Posad became the place where the first industrial model of the Russian matryoshka was made. This ancient city is located 73 kilometers from Moscow. The city grew up around the famous Trinity-Sergius Lavra.
The history of Russian nesting dolls can be divided into three periods:
- 1890-1930;
- 1930 - early 1990's;
- early 1990's. until now.
The first period gave the world a Russian nesting doll. Several types of dolls were developed, several styles appeared. The flowering of art was interrupted by the construction of socialism in the USSR, because the Soviet government paid little attention to the development of handicraft production. The rate was made for industrialization and industrial production; handicraft creativity did not fit into the concept of mass production of goods for the population. Although some types of matryoshkas were still produced.
Private production in the USSR was banned - craftsmen were obliged to work in state factories, to make products according to a given pattern and not to show initiative. Workers in factories were not allowed to have lathes at home. Private production could be equated to the theft of socialist property and was punished by a rather long period of detention. The police and the government controlled roads and railway stations to prevent the possibility of transporting products to other regions for sale. Nevertheless, people produced their own crafts and exported them to other republics of the Soviet Union, primarily to the north and Central Asia.
It was easier to work in state factories. At least, toys manufactured at state-owned enterprises were exported to many countries around the world.
Since the early 1990s artists have been given full freedom of expression, but the old economic system is still really hampering the work. At some point, the clever men from the USSR State Planning Committee decided that it would be nice to dramatically increase the production of matryoshkas so that each person on earth could have at least one doll. So nested dolls began to be mass produced in Moldova, Ukraine, the Caucasus, Bashkiria, Karelia and many other places. Then no one even thought that along with the tools for the processing of wood, a high level of skill was not transferred. It turned out that the world was flooded with mediocre crafts, which have no value. Without native traditions, the matryoshka lost its charm and turned into an ordinary wooden toy, very primitive and simple.
Nowadays, many artists started to produce matryoshkas using their own, modern style.
Sincerely, 
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