The museum is free... Sayinska zozulka, golden treasures and the Easter cake recipe from the family of Mykhailo Hrushevsky...
May is approaching, and so is International Museum Day, when you can visit most museums for free and enjoy free viewing of collections of various masterpieces.
Every year on May 18, since 1977, International Museum Day has been celebrated all over the world. It was founded by the International Council of Museums “to emphasize the vital role of museums in cultural exchange, education and the development of society. ”
Last year, May 18 fell on a Sunday, so there were a lot of people who wanted to get into museums for free.
Someone will say: “On this day, it would be nice to be somewhere in Vienna or Rome, Paris, Madrid, New York or…” Yes, I agree. It’s great to visit any museum in the world for free, but… Can you imagine the length of the queues to those museums?
And also… Thanks to our eastern neighbor, most Ukrainians simply cannot travel right now…
And I am among them. So I decided to go to my native Kyiv Pechersk Lavra.
In addition, the psyche is overstrained by the news, constant shelling and explosions, and needs something beautiful and inspiring.
A few years ago, when the Church of the Savior on Berestov was finally opened after a long restoration, I visited the Lavra and saw all the sights that were included in the complex ticket. You can read about it here and here.
There are several museums on the territory of the Lavra: the Museum of Decorative Arts, the Museum of Books and Printing, the Museum of Historical Treasures (Treasury of the National Museum of History of Ukraine) and the Museum of Theater, Music and Cinema. Tickets for them must be purchased separately.
In early May, the Museum of Decorative Arts opened the exhibition “Sainskaya Zozulka. Ornamental Motifs of Ukrainian Embroidered Shirts of the 19th and 20th Centuries”, dedicated to World Embroidery Day. Considering that at the beginning of my career I had a “relationship” with embroidery, such exhibitions always interest me.
A plus was the desire to get to the Treasury. And to climb the bell tower again.
The week before, it had been raining all week, and cultural visits were questionable: “getting wet in the rain? What else haven’t I seen there? I’ve been to those museums and the Lavra… and I have a book from the Museum of Historical Treasures at home, from Soviet times…” But the Universe decided to give the people of Kyiv a gift, and the sun shone in the morning. Wonderful. I’m leaving.
There are a lot of people on the territory of the Lavra, they came in large companies and families, there are queues everywhere. Especially at the Treasury and the Museum of Microminiatures by Mykola Syadristy.
It seems I won't get to the Treasury...
OK. First I'm heading to the embroidery exhibition. I immediately go up to the second floor - the exhibition is located there. But before that, I have to go through the halls with old towels, carpets, Easter eggs and Ukrainian national clothes from all regions and corners of the country.
I already have photos of the Easter eggs, carpets, and clothes, I once talked about them in the “Forum” section in the “Kyiv” topic, so I won’t linger too long in those halls.
I’m taking a few photos of the towels and Easter eggs:
Further, in the right wing, is an exhibition of embroidered clothes. The visitors here are mostly women.
It's quite a quest to hunt down an exhibit when no one is around, but I try. In between, someone also asks to take a picture of them against the background of the collection...
The embroideries are incredible! Shirts, pieces of embroidered fabric, fragments, samples...
“The exhibition presents items from the museum’s collection of shirts from the 19th and early 20th centuries, which come from various regions of Ukraine: Poltava region, Eastern Podillia, Chernihiv region, Ternopil region, Ivano-Frankivsk region, Kyiv region, Bukovina, Transcarpathia, Rivne region.
Rare examples of folk ornaments with poetic names, which were recorded by many ethnographers at the beginning of the last century. These are short, apt, figurative definitions: "Sainskaya zozulka", "ram horns", "crooked Ivanko", "butterflies", "spring", "black cloud", "leeches", "bags", "reeds", "eagles", "eagles fly", "mistake", "roses", "stars", "snake", "oats", "paws" and many others. "*
*– all text in italics here and below is taken from the pages of the websites of the National Museum of the History of Ukraine (https://nmiu. org) and the National Reserve "Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra" (https://kplavra. kyiv. ua/ua)
Each pattern is not just a decorative element, it is part of the cultural heritage of embroidery, a kind of code through which our ancestors transmitted their vision of the world and understanding of the surrounding world.
So let's take a look...
In the left wing is an exhibition of ceramic figurines "Podilsky Mockingbird".
The exhibition is dedicated to the work of the Honored Master of Folk Art of Ukraine Ivan Tarasovich Gonchar (1888–1944). He is called the founder of Soviet folk easel ceramic sculpture of small forms. Among the works are sculptures, genre multi-figure compositions, decorative and zoomorphic vessels, candlesticks, toys and whistles from the 1910s-1930s.
Not to be confused with another Ivan Honchar – Ivan Makarovych Honchar (1910-1993), also a sculptor. Kyiv residents know him better – thanks to the museum named after him, located next to the Lavra.
The exhibition “Podilsky Mockingbird” for the first time in the history of the museum so meaningfully introduces visitors to the sculptor’s work: “The collection of works by Ivan Honchar is a real pearl of the museum collection – the largest collection of the master’s works in Ukraine, numbering over 210 unique exhibits. ”
Funny, amusing characters evoke a smile and a surge of imagination. His figures are funny and amazing, amusing, made with the author’s soft humor.
Passing by hall, looking out the window…
Then I go down to the first floor. Although, I guess, I should have started there…
First, visitors are greeted by an exhibition of the Lviv School of Art Glass, dedicated to the memory of the glazier Franz Chernyak. The exhibition features works by artists of different generations - from pioneers of the Ukrainian studio movement to contemporary authors. There are also 7 original works by Franz Chernyak himself.
Unfortunately, the glass works were placed on a small area, and there are a lot of people, it is inconvenient to take pictures, and it is also scary to touch something.
Therefore, only two pictures.
And a few more, taken from the sites that announced the exhibition.
Next, in the large hall, an insert “Tree of Life. Easter Symbol of Unity” was placed.
A project dedicated to one of the most famous archetypes in visual culture.
The Tree of Life is a symbol that personifies the connection between three worlds: the underworld, the earth and the sky, as well as between the past, the present and the future. Through it, we feel the connection of generations and the continuity of meanings that pass through the centuries.
The exhibition is built according to the organic logic of the tree itself – from the roots through the trunk to the crown, from archaeological finds from the Paleolithic era and 18th-century powder kegs, Easter eggs, festive costumes, a collection of Easter eggs to the works of Viktor Zaretsky, Pavlo Makov, Albina Yaloza, photographs by Oksana Chorna and carvings by Daria Alyoshka.
This symbolic journey allows visitors to delve into the depths of Ukrainian history and feel the inextricable connection between generations.
Over 200 rare exhibits from the collections of seven leading Ukrainian museums tell the story of one of the oldest and most powerful symbols of Ukrainian culture.
Environment exhibits unique rarities:
The antimins of Kyiv Metropolitan Petro Mohyla, made in the 1630s in the printing house of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra – an attribute of Christian worship, on which the liturgy is performed. It is made of linen or silk fabric, with engraved images, inscriptions of the names of the bishop and head of state, and the date of consecration. On the reverse side there is a sewn-in pocket with fragments of the holy relics of the martyrs.
The shroud, which is over 220 years old, is from the Church of the Forty Saints in the city of Konotop, associated with the descendants of the family of Hetman Ivan Samoilovych (1630-1690).
And alsohousehold items: "gingerbread" boards, a recipe for Easter cake from the family of Mykhailo Hrushevsky, old wooden, ceramic and embroidered products.
A large white installation in the center of the hall attracts attention. This is a carving by Lviv craftswoman Daria Alyoshka, “Tree of Memory, ” made of three parts: “Tree of Life, ” “Seeds, ” and “Prayers. ” On the fourth side, there are ribbons to which each visitor to the exhibition can attach a white paper bird in memory of the defenders of Ukraine.
This is a space of silence, gratitude to all who defend Ukraine, and deep shared memory of those who laid down their lives for the future.
Next will be...
