While the Kyiv City Council delays, the prosecutor’s office is trying to save the Museum of Prominent Figures of Ukrainian Culture from destruction

30.09.2023

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The integrated museum complex, the Museum of Eminent Figures of Ukrainian Culture, located in the historical center of Kyiv on Saksahanskoho Street, is under the threat of destruction. Here, visitors can explore the lives and works of the families of Lesia Ukrainka, Mykola Lysenko, and Mykhailo Starytsky. However, in the near future, a hotel-residential complex with 8 and 16 floors and a parking facility may appear nearby, which could potentially demolish the historic buildings associated with these prominent Ukrainians.

«The Museum of Prominent Figures in Ukrainian Culture may be destroyed due to the inaction of the Kyiv City Council. Currently, one can learn about the lives and work of the Kosach, Staritsky, Lysenko, Franko, and Tobilevych ( known by his pseudonym Karpenko-Karyi, was a Ukrainian writer, playwright, actor, and erudite. He was designated as one of the luminaries of Ukrainian domestic theater) families here. The LLC «Scientific and Production Enterprise «Restin» plans to build right next to this historical landmark – the house where Panas Saksahansky lived. And scientists are already warning that such «wise» steps will have serious consequences, including groundwater flooding in the floodplain of the Lybid River (a small river in Kyiv, Ukraine. A right tributary of the Dnieper, it flows within the «Right Bank» part of the city, just to the west of the historic center. The Lybid has played an important role in shaping Kyiv’s urban design by aiding the city’s drainage system.) in this area», – reports journalist Iryna Fedorova.

Experts also note that the construction works close to the territory of the museum will have a negative impact on the environment and the condition of the buildings that are part of it, since such actions are a source of pollution, vibration and pressure on the soil, vegetation and ground water of the location. Also, carrying out construction in the immediate vicinity of the museum territory will also pose a threat to the existence of the buildings of the mentioned monuments – flooding of the foundation, destruction of building structures, subsidence of the building with the formation of cracks and destruction of walls.

Fedorova notes that there were no public discussions about construction in the historical center of Kyiv. The Kyiv City Council was offered to terminate the lease agreement with the company, which the developer received through the decision of the Commercial Court of the City of Kyiv back in 2009, the integrity of which has great doubts.

Currently, three cases are being considered in various courts:

1. Case No. 910/2389/23 – The Kyiv City Council must acknowledge the lawsuit filed by the prosecutor’s office and vote against extending the lease on the land plot near the museum complex.
2. Case No. 640/17130/22.
3. Case No. 640/13105/21 – Cassation in the Cassation Administrative Court as part of the Supreme Court regarding the lawsuit filed by LLC NVP «Restin» to compel the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine to grant the company permission for land works related to the construction of an office-residential and hotel complex with parking.

According to the «Ukrinform» (Ukrainian National Information Agency «Ukrinform» is a state news agency that publishes about 500 informative and analytical reports in Ukrainian, Russian, English, Spanish, German, French, Polish, and Japanese languages every day, and almost 200 original photos.) agency, at the end of September 2023, the Economic Court of Kyiv began considering a lawsuit filed by the Deputy Prosecutor General on behalf of the state against the Kyiv City Council and the LLC «Scientific and Production Enterprise «Restin» for the return of a land plot in the Holosiivskyi district of the capital, located at Zhylianska Street,96-A , which was allocated for construction purposes.

Museum collection

The museum complex consists of five memorial buildings and exhibition departments. Lesya Ukrainka (one of the most important writers in Ukrainian literature, best known for her poems and plays ) visited the house where the Kosach family lived for ten years from 1899. The exceptions were only the autumn- winter seasons of 1899-1901 and 1905-1907. As reported by the UA.News agency (the largest network of information sites in western Ukraine), which visited the museum complex on the open day on September 21, many family relics were lost during the travels of the Kosach-Drahomanov family during complex historical events. However, the items that have been preserved have found their place in the reconstructed memorial apartment. Among these items is a writing device personally used by the poetess.

Also there are many photos of the Kosachiv-Dragomanov family and their friends, Lesya Ukrainka’s letters to her relatives and drafts of the writer’s works in the apartment.

Part of the collection is represented by things that were carefully preserved by relatives of Lesya Ukrainka, which were scattered all over the world. They willingly replenished the museum’s collection with family heirlooms.

The museum of the renowned Ukrainian composer, pianist, conductor, and educator is located in the former residence of the naturalist teacher Mykola Hvozdik, where Mykola Vitaliyovych Lysenko (late Romantic Ukrainian composer, pianist, conductor, and ethnomusicologist. He was the pivotal figure in Ukrainian music throughout his lifetime) rented the second floor from August 1894 to November 1912, at the address of Mariynsko-Blahovishchenska Street, 95-b.

The artist’s study, where the majority of memorial furniture and personal belongings of the composer are kept, has been recreated based on documentary photographs. Authentic parquet has been restored, stucco preserved, and the tiled stove has been retained. Ukrainian folk musical instruments from Lysenko’s collection, such as the wheel lyre, torban (a Ukrainian musical instrument that combines the characteristics of the Baroque lute with the psaltery) , cimbalom, and bandura, are displayed on the walls. It is here that Mykola Lysenko worked on his operas «Taras Bulba» (is a romanticized historical novella set in the first half of the 17th century, written by Nikolai Gogol), «Eneida» (is a parody of Virgil’s Aeneid, where Kotliarevsky transformed the Trojan heroes into Zaporozhian Cossacks.)

«Nocturne» the final editions of «Music for «Kobzar» arrangements of folk songs, and his most famous piano miniatures.

The basis of the museum’s collection is the personal creative archive of the artist, which was transferred from the M. V. Lysenko Cabinet-Museum at the Kyiv State Conservatory, as well as exhibits from the Theater Museum and those gifted by the composer’s descendants. This museum is imbued with Lysenko’s music. Tours here are conducted with recordings of his compositions, and concerts featuring his works are often held in the museum.

The museum of the outstanding Ukrainian playwright, poet, prose writer, translator, public figure, one of the founders of the Ukrainian professional theater Mykhailo Petrovych Starytsky (Michael Starycky) – (a Ukrainian poet and dramatist) was opened in August 2002. In 1901, the writer settled in an apartment on Mariyinsko-Blagovishchenska Street, 93 (now Saksaganskogo Street), with his wife Sofya Vitaliyivna, daughter Maria and son Yuriy, and spent the last three years of his life there.

The exhibition consists of two parts. The first part is the memorial apartment of the writer, where the interiors of Starytsky’s living room, study, the room of his elder daughter Maria, the dining room are recreated, and an exhibition titled «Literary and Theatrical Activities of M. Starytsky» is presented. The second part of the exhibition, «Continuation of Family Traditions» is dedicated to the life and creative paths of the playwright’s children and grandchildren. True to their parent’s legacy, they have made a significant contribution to the development of national culture.

On the museum complex grounds, there are constantly held exhibitions dedicated to the history of Ukraine and its prominent figures. In September-October 2023, a multimedia exhibition titled «[Un]Destroyed» took place here, dedicated to the repression of Ukrainian intellectuals at the beginning of the 20th century. This exposition tells the story of arrests of individuals from the inner circles of the Staritsky and Kosach families, accusations against Lesya Ukrainka’s husband, imprisonment of the granddaughter of Mykhailo Staritsky, and the persecution of Ivan Franko’s family.

The organizers of this interactive exhibition about the repression of the Ukrainian intelligentsia note that the history of these prominent families serves as an example of how the Soviet authorities systematically suppressed the bearers of Ukrainian ideas and culture, trying to erase the national identity of our people.

Approximately 100 exhibits are presented here, most of which are being displayed for the first time. In particular, materials from the Central State Archive of Public Associations and Ukrainica, the Sectoral State Archive of the Security Service of Ukraine, the Central State Audiovisual and Electronic Archive, as well as exhibits from the National Historical and Memorial Reserve «Bykivnia Graves» (are a National Historic Memorial next to the former village of Bykivnia within Kyiv woodland, Bykivnia Forest) and the collection of the Museum of Prominent Figures of Ukrainian Culture are used in the exhibition.

In the two exhibition halls, stories that were previously kept silent, but later received decent coverage in the public space, are embodied. Previously unknown materials from the state archives, memorabilia from the Ivan Franko (a Ukrainian poet, writer, social and literary critic, journalist, interpreter, economist, political activist, philosopher, ethnographer, and creator of the first detective novels and modern poetry in Ukrainian) Foundation, rare photos, personal items and finds from burials in the Bykivnia Forest were presented.