In the 19th century Bolshoe Kazarinovo became one of the largest pottery centers of the Nizhny Novgorod region. The residents of Kazarinovo themselves think that the pottery production originated in the village in the time immemorial. Archeological survey traced the craft to the end of the 16th century.
Among Kazarinovo potters there were real masters whose earthenware was especially appreciated for its strength, pattern refinement and good baking.
Bolshoe Kazarinovo potters specialized in the production of “blue pottery” (a local name for black ceramics). The inhabitants were quite satisfied with simple products of the local potters. The pottery in urban style ousted “blue pottery” much later than in other regions of Russia. But the 80s of the 20th century saw a decline of the pottery craft.
Now there still are some people in Kazarinovo who are familiar with the pottery technology, but not many of them are engaged in the earthenware production. Among them – good masters the Vasins.
Now the earthenware, originally so indispensable in peasants’ farms, can be found only in museums and collections of Nizhny Novgorod and Moscow collectors.

In the local museum of Bolshoe Boldino tourists and guests can see earthenware made by masters of the present and the past.
In Bogorodsk the pottery craft originated as early as in 1570 when the settlement was founded.

The craft reached its fullest flower at the end of the 19th century – beginning of the 20th century, when the products of Bogorodsk masters got known in the major part of Russia. Bogorodsk potters produced earthenware for various purposes: pots, dishes, washbowls, trays, milk-pails, large pots, brew-pots and even samovars.
In the second half of the 20th century the craft started declining, and in the mid 80s only two potters worked in Bogorodsk, though the traditions and the spirit of Bogorodsk pottery has not sunk into oblivion. Entrepreneur V. Zudin and potter S. Zarubin, supported by the local administration, founded “Gorshenya” workshop in 1994. In 2000 the Center for Pottery Development was set up in Bogorodsk.

In June, 2004 the Museum of Ceramics was inaugurated at the Center thanks to the revival of the traditions of the pottery craft.
While touring the museum, one can not only hear about various techniques of pottery but also witness the process of raku burning (Japanese tradition) as well as the traditional Russian burning.