The visitors of the Transcarpathian Yosyp Bokshai Museum of Art notice not only the unique items on display, but also the narrowness of the exhibit halls and passages, which is apparently inappropriate for the institution of such a high level. Why is one of the innumerous Uzhhorod places bringing for the city the fame of a cultural core of the entire Transcarpathia and being an amulet of its rich cultural heritage in such a state? I asked this question to the head of the museum Francisk Erfan.
“Any European city would have cherished as the apple of its eye a place with such traditions and priceless heritage of art masterpieces. We ‘don’t have money for culture,’ like it was fashionable to say in the time of the Soviet Union,” says the director of the museum. “In 1979 the Transcarpathian Art Museum, which was part of the structure of the Transcarpathian Local Lore Museum and was located in the Uzhhorod Castle, was made a separate institution and brought to the premises of the old Uzhhorod administration, built in 1809. Within the walls of the building in the 1930s there was the Zemstvo Museum, and the building was called the House of Culture and Printing. The collection of the Zemstvo Museum laid the groundwork for the collection of the art museum. Today owing to the research and collection work, uniqueness of the collection, and a constellation of the famous names of the artists, whose works have been stored in the deposit, the museum has turned into a Mecca for the admirers of the Transcarpathian painting school.”
Today the funds include over 11,000 items. These are paintings, graphic works, sculptures, and decorative-applied art of Renaissance, French Romanticism, Italian Classicism, early Dutch Realism, the art of the countries of Central Europe, works of Russian artists of the 18th-20th centuries. The museum stores the largest collection of canvases of Hungarian artists in the post-Soviet region, in particular Mihaly Munkacsy, Revesz Imre, Rudnay Gyula. And of course the greatest acquisition is the artistic oeuvre of the Transcarpathian artists. These are the masterpieces of the renowned coryphaei of the visual art of our country, Yosyp Bokshai, Adalbert Erdeli, Andrii Kotska, Fedir Manailo, Adalbert Boretsky, Vasyl Svyda, Zoltan Sholtes, the memorial exposition of Academician Ihor Hrabar, modern masters of visual art of Transcarpathia.
To have full-fledged expositions, the museum today needs 10 times larger exhibit area, because it owns Ukraine’s largest collection of Erdeli’s works, has nearly 100 works by Bokshai, 1,500 works by Manailo, and 2,000 works by Kotska. However, the operating expositions are able to store only up to 1.5 percent of the present museum funds. Only some works by Bokshai and Erdeli are currently exhibited in the regular expositions, because many visitors of the art museum, when they come to Uzhhorod, want to see not only the world and Ukrainian masterpieces, but above all the works by well-known Transcarpathian artists who brought fame to Transcarpathian painting, because they cannot be seen in any other place.
“In 2003 the municipal authorities gave about 2,000 sq. meters of the premises of the old administration, having left the right wing in the community property of Uzhhorod and accommodating there the structures which have no relation to either art or museums, nor do they have any relation to culture on the whole,” says Francisk Erfan. “There was an agreement that when these structures would move out, the freed spaces would be given to the museum. However, nothing of this kind has happened. When the premises are freed, the municipal authorities give them for the structures that move out from the city buildings that are put up for sale. Consequently, the condition of the building worsens.”
At the same time, the city authorities are not able to use the buildings they own, intellectually, spiritually, or materially. Being one of the top five centers of artistic culture of Ukraine, together with Kyiv, Odesa, Kharkiv, and Lviv, Uzhhorod does not have a painting gallery of its own. The mayors, members of the city council of several convocations, or executive committee have not needed it for many years. The cultural dullness of the incumbent authorities for which the question of culture heritage is on the last place is quite surprising. This is sad, because in civilized countries namely the museums, not markets or supermarkets are the reason of pride of the urban residents. If we don’t realize this, we risk losing the status of the Nationwide Center of Art Culture. And it is hard to imagine a greater blow to the prestige of the city, because Uzhhorod will never become an industrial, trading, or bank center.
“For several years we have been appealing to the city authorities with a request to execute the decision of the oblast council on transferring premises for the needs of the art museum, in order to create here a united culture center, which would give an opportunity not only to broaden the exhibit area of the museum, but also to create a restoration workshop, found a museum of books and printing, a center of large-scale culture-art actions. However, we get from the offices of the municipal authorities only formal replies,” says Francisk Erfan.
Today the only hope is left that the intellectual community of the region will be able to influence the members of Zakarpattia oblast council and Uzhhorod city council, so that they made a joint decision on establishment of a powerful culture center on Zhupanat hill. In the end of their current cadence they will have a chance to prove that they belong to the regional elite.
