The role, significance and functions of skansen as a tourism resource of territory and representants of national traditions of nature-use

The article deals with the concept, function and significance of ethnographic open-air museums - skansen. Such type of museum represents regional types of nature-use, and is important components of the tourism industry. Ethnic traditions of nature-use appeared as a result of long historical process formation and development of the Russia peoples. Skan- sens is the museum institutions, which allow to get acquainted with it, and in concentrated form contribute to disclose the characteristics of the regional mentality, differences in material culture. The article notes that the skansens are a specific kind of more comprehensive on composition group of open-air museums. Only a museum that represents char- acteristics, traditions and cultural components of a particular nation or region through specially organized exhibition of traditional architectural complexes in the open air on the basis of ethnicity is a skansen. All open-air museums have certain properties, perform appropriate roles and functions. They complete particular tasks, the main among which is the preservation of interesting authentic monuments and the creation of conditions for free access of the general public to the objects through their tourism use. Today in Russia there are more than 20 skansens. «Kizhi» and «Small Korely» are the largest. But the lack of a common point of view on the term «skansen» is reason for the absence of any statistics in this area. Therefore, determination the criteria and the development of a database of skansens are the urgent tasks for today. Article describes the attempt to create such database. It includes information about 26 facilities, which can be considered a classical skansen. Problems and deficiencies of Russian skansens are revealed during the creation of the database; opportunities of using the infor- mation about ethnomuseums in tourism are considered. The proposed measures are intended to solve the problem of promoting ethnomuseums on domestic tourism market and attract new visitors. On the base of geographical analysis five characteristics of Russian skansens and aspects of their distribution across the country have been identified. It is indicated that the creation of open-air museums in all regional, provincial and republican centers at the local history museums as an extension of their exhibitions is an urgent task. This will expand opportunities for development of do- mestic tourism in Russia on the ethnic basis that is determined as priority.