The idea of an exhibition entitled “Treasures of Pidhirtsi Castle,” which is now being put on display at Lviv National Art Gallery, came to the gallery director Taras Vozniak. The curator of the exhibition is Oksana Kozynkevych, director of the Museum of Western Art of the 14th-18th centuries at the Gallery. The exhibition’s modern, interactive design was created by Serhii Petliuk.
Pidhirtsi castle is landmark of Ukraine’s architecture. It was commissioned by crown hetman Stanislaw Koniecpolski and built between 1635 and 1640 by a famous architect Andrea del Aqua and engineer Guillaume de Boplan. The castle’s collection was considered the richest in Western Ukraine. Much of it has been preserved and is now owned by various museums of Ukraine (Lviv National Art Gallery, Lviv History Museum, Lviv Museum of the History of Religion) and Poland (District Museum in Tarnow, National Museum in Krakow, Historical Museum of Krakow, National Museum in Warsaw), and private collections.
The “Treasures...” exhibition presents the Ukrainian part of the collection: paintings, sculptures, weapons, furniture, and tapestry. These works of art are exhibited for the first time since 1939. They could be used to re-decorate the interiors of the castle, provided of course it would be restored. For now, one of the greatest palaces in Europe is in a very bad condition. Tourists visiting Pidhirtsi are only shown the facade and surrounding area. In fact, the purpose of the exhibition is to draw attention to this problem.
“The Pidhirtsi problem is a drop of water in the global ocean... Looking at Pidhirtsi castle, we must realize that every castle of ours is dilapidated. And some of them lie in utter ruin, bound to disappear soon from the face of Earth,” says Oksana Kozynkevych. “But the castle of Pidhirtsi, in my opinion, has a chance. It all depends on us. And this exhibition, in fact, is the public promotion of Pidhirtsi. We are now preparing a number of projects for grant fundraising. Of course, we could have already begun the restoring, but the project itself is very costly, therefore we present our proposals for grants. Moreover, the project documentation and calculations are ready – one should just buy it.”
The exhibition attracted a remarkable public interest – the opening ceremony was a full house; it was attended by Minister of Culture of Ukraine Yevhen Nyshchuk, several rectors of Lviv universities, directors of museums and theaters, artists, art historians, museum workers, and experts.
“Treasures of Pidhirtsi Castle” will be seen by everyone who wants it, as the exhibition will be open until at least September. Further plans include a display in Krakow, Poland.
