The Kyiv City State Administration (KMD) recently adopted a decision to transfer the title to 131 hectares of land to the Pyrohove State Museum of People’s Architecture and Folkways of Ukraine.
This does not mean that the museum’s acreage has been expanded. The museum now holds title to the land that was previously regarded as state property. The museum employees call the transfer a real victory because from now on no one can encroach on their territory. The director of the Pyrohove museum Tamara VASYLENKO comments on the museum’s new status.
What advantages will your museum have now that it has received title to the land from the Kyiv State City Administration?
Obtaining title to the land was an extraordinary achievement. We had official deeds of title, but under the current legislation we had to go through the rigmarole of paperwork to get title to this plot so that we could use the structures and architectural monuments on the premises the way we wanted. In other words, we can now freely use the territory and protect it if anyone tries to grab a piece of our land to build a mansion. Our documents state that the museum possesses 134 hectares, but at the moment we are in legal possession of 131.
We also succeeded in winning possession of the road that passes along the forest next to the museum. Before, it was formally regarded as a public road, although for the past 40 years the road and our parking lot have been maintained by the museum staff. Now that the road is the property of our museum, we’re planning to expand it and make it more convenient for both drivers and pedestrians; we have plans for the parking lot.
What would have happened to your museum if the KMD had passed a different resolution?
We know what’s happening in the real estate sector; you have to fight for every scrap of land. We have won back the acreage of our museum and soon we will start setting up conservation zones. In keeping with the law protecting the Ukrainian cultural heritage, our museum has title to a legally protected area and an area of “regulated development” - something Pyrohove still doesn’t have. This will help us preserve the incomparable image of our museum. We know that there are developers eager to construct 40- meter-high apartment buildings in the vicinity. Just try and picture Ukraine’s historical image at Pyrohove with its 17th-century village houses against the backdrop of modern skyscrapers!
How is the museum reconstruction coming along? We know that the Ukrainian development foundation Rozvytok Ukrainy has allocated 15 million hryvnias for the project.
Part of this money is being channeled into upgrading the museum’s infrastructure. We expect to revamp the museum by 2012. This summer we want to fix the thatched roofs and put a new coat of whitewash on the village houses to make them attractive to tourists. With the foundation’s funds we are repairing 10 windmills that are in bad shape. Speedy renovations are complicated by the lack of qualified restorers, who know how to rethatch the roofs and repair the wooden and straw household items. We also lack restorers of fabrics, ceramics, and paintings, as well as carpenters and cabinetmakers.
There are many other factors that complicate the restoration of the museum collection, for example, the rainy weather, which forces us to whitewash the same house several times. Here again, we lack artisans who work with clay. To obtain the services of such craftsmen, we first need to increase salaries. We will able to do this only when our museum acquires national status; then our employees’ salaries will increase twofold. Pertinent documents are being considered by the Presidential Secretariat. It is anyone’s guess when we will get a positive answer.
Right now our museum has about 300 items from six ethnographic regions of Ukraine. So our dream is to have at least a couple of craftsmen looking after the artifacts in each of the regions. We only have two restorers on the payroll who specialize in woodwork, which is very little considering our size.
Despite the many problems, the number of visitors to your museum remains high. What kind of pleasant surprises do you have in store for them?
On July 20 we celebrated Woodcarver’s Day. Craftsmen from all over Ukraine came here: wood carvers, carpenters, and wickerwork specialists, you name it. Visitors had a chance to see wooden items from the age of Kyivan Rus’ to the present. The Pyrohove Museum welcomes visitors to celebrate Blacksmith’s Day with us in early August.
