There is nothing new about our government lacking funds to maintain our museums. The latter, however, do not forgive us for this indifferent attitude, and we are losing national relics. The passage of time benefits neither museum personnel, nor visitors. Sponsor money could help, but for the time being our businesspeople are not showing any special interest. A happy exception to this rule was the decision of the Charitable Foundation “Development of Ukraine” to help the National Academy’s Museum of Folk Architecture and Daily Life (MFADL) with renovation that has not been actually done for almost forty years. One can only try to imagine how many problems have piled up over the years since the museum was established. Last week, the foundation and the museum signed a memorandum on the allotment of this sum. More on this and the museum’s problems and ideas about how to preserve the items on display — even to expand the premises — in the following interview with MFADL director Tamara VASYLENKO.
Ms. Vasylenko, do you have any plans on how you’re going to spend this 15 million hryvnias?
We have big problems. In particular, we must repair the roads and driveways, and build a parking lot near the entrance to the museum. Car owners who visit us, especially on weekends, have nowhere to park their cars, so they leave them by the road. This museum has existed for forty years but the entrance is still unlit. We must upgrade our infrastructure for receiving our visitors; we need modern restrooms; we want a special structure for a travel agency, tickets office, and security guards; food and souvenir kiosks, a recreational and a sanitary zone. We have to properly design the central entrance and upgrade its burglar alarm system.
I’ve mentioned only problems that are clearly apparent even as you enter the museum. There are others that concern the whole territory. We need experts to take care of our ponds and we want to improve the roads on the museum grounds — and it means kilometers that visitors walk, especially in bad weather. We look forward to displaying museum items that have been stored in sheds for fifteen years. This means restoration projects and they cost money.
What is the general condition of the items on display? Is any money being allocated for their restoration?
We are annually financed by the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. It is not much (three million hryvnias a year), but we are very grateful for we can gradually put our museum in order. After all, we have over 300 architectural monuments on display. Honestly speaking, it’s hard to maintain even one of them. As it is, we have to make do with patching up here and there. Timber, straw, and clay are our key materials. All these structures have to withstand all kinds of weather and we do not have a single restoration workshop. Even so we have carried out a considerable amount of restoration work over the past two years — I mean ponds and various structures.
How are you going to renovate the roads on the grounds of the museum?
First of all, we want to scatter gravel, so our visitors want have to wade through mud under rain. We also won’t to even them out and build additional roads.
What can be done to improve the security system?
After we install a fire alarm system it will be a great help for the local fire brigade. We are also struggling to have a firefighting team and a fire engine on our payroll. We have repaired our fire station. All we need is funds. You see, there is always a fire risk at the museum. We have no smoking signs, especially near the village homes with straw roofs, but some of the visitors ignore them.
Has the number of visitors increased over the past couple of years?
Yes, very much so. There were times when we had less than 150 even on weekends, now 200 can be seen standing in line to by tickets. We had so many gaps in our fence. Now we have patched them up and there are several kilometers of solid fence starting at the entrance. Perhaps the Development of Ukraine Foundation will help us fix the part of the museum that remains to be completed.
What’s the life span of the items on display?
Our oldest khata village home dates from the 16th century (1587) and originates from Samarske, a village in what’s today Volyn oblast. It has one room and a stove, but no chimney. Now it is in a critical condition, being destroyed by shipworm and weather. Well, it has stood for so many centuries. Now the problem is to restore and preserve it.
Is your research stuff looking for new museum items across Ukraine?
Once someone set fire to a barn from Taras Shevchenko’s village. It was very difficult to find a similar one for such structures do not last long, yet our researchers found one. It was even older than the burned one. We bought it last year and will transfer it to the museum this year. Our museum development program envisages a sequel to the Poltavshchyna and Slobozhanshchyna expositions, so we would like to take at least one street of the adjacent village of Pyrohove that borders on that part of the museum. Then we would be able to install another church in the Poltavshchyna section. The president promised a windmill from Poltava oblast the last time he visited. The trouble is, everything is being done so slowly because of funds. It takes considerable sums to vacate a village street and resettle its residents, especially now that land costs so much. Still, we have plans. The foundation’s 15 million hryvnias is only a small part of what we actually need...
What’s the proceeds from selling tickets to visitors?
Last year we earned about two million hryvnias. This is the money with which we maintain the museum and pay our security guards. By the way, the latter will cost us a million this year. The rest is spent on our internal needs. We have cattle, trucks, other machinery that is quite obsolete. I have mentioned the roads, but we also have services, electricity. Everything — water pipes and sewers — has worn out over the past forty years without repair. As you, there are lots of problems.
Recently a section of your museum was fenced off. Does it mean that someone took away some of your land?
This ferroconcrete fence is meant to protect our Carpathian section. There is tall grass behind the museum which is never cut, so there is a big fire risk. We are very grateful to the Academy of Sciences for this fence.
Several years ago your staff members complained about encroachments on the museum’s land. Have these encroachments stopped?
No, they haven’t and we are doing paperwork for legal protection.
Perhaps you have some recommendations for your visitors?
Among the items on display are 150-year-old carts and windmills. They must not be touched, just as no straw should be picked. The visitors should their distance from the horses. The main thing is: no bonfires, no smoking near the khatas. That is why we want to upgrade our infrastructure, so we can have special recreational areas where people will be allowed to smoke and start campfires. Our visitors must learn to observe the museum rules.
