The preservation of the state’s historical-cultural monuments is a problem that tops Ukraine’s agenda. The roots of the problem reach back to the 1920s and 1930s, when 15,000 churches and over 600,000 icons were destroyed in Ukraine.
Unfortunately, the situation has not changed today. Experts say that in the last couple of years 130 several-hundred-year-old churches were wiped off the historical and cultural map of Ukraine. The most recent news about the destruction of the Lower Gate leading to the Kyivan Cave Historical-Cultural Preserve scandalized the country.
IT ALL BEGAN WITH AN EDICT
The representatives of 560 regional museum complexes have seen better days. Instead of carrying out their duties, they have to fight with local authorities over buildings for their museum collections and share their premises with local religious communities. The head of the Chernihiv Historical Museum Serhii Laievsky believes that the problem can be resolved only by a compromise between a particular religious community and the state as the owner of museums.
“Several years ago an edict was issued to overcome the consequences of the totalitarian regime, and as a result the situation with museum heritage preservation became especially acute,” says Laievsky. “This edict effectively ruined the system of relationships between museums and churches. Since Soviet times many museum items and collections have been stored in church buildings which, together with museums, belong to our historical-cultural heritage.
“According to the edict, museums and their collections have to vacate church buildings and be transferred to the state. Local authorities have failed to provide museums with new buildings, and a fight over territory erupted between churches and museums. No one reckons with the fact that museum workers saved all the historical-cultural and religious monuments and, above all, church antiquities.”
Laievsky says that because of this conflictual situation the Chernihiv Historical Museum has lost its collection of 260 exhibits and 72 handicrafts produced by the folk craftsmen of Chernihiv oblast, which are stored in the Church of St. Catherine the Martyr. The local authorities passed a resolution stating that the church, which used to belong to the Chernihiv Historical Museum, has been transferred to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Kyiv Patriarchate). The museum has not been provided with a new building. Now the church representatives are not allowing museum workers access to the collection stored in one of the church buildings and are refusing to return it. The museum curator says that among the especially precious exhibits are 18th- century textiles, embroidered clothing worn by Cossack officers, the oldest embroidered towel in Chernihiv region dating to 1846, an embroidered skirt, earthenware by well-known Chernihiv potters, late 18th-century photographs, and many other valuable items. The collection’s estimated total value is several million hryvnias.
As of now, no court decision has been able to break the deadlock by proving that the museum’s collection is stored inside the church. While the museum workers were searching for the defendant, the collection was stored in unacceptable conditions for over a year. Laievsky says that in the room where the exhibits are stored the humidity is above normal, and this may adversely affect the artefacts. His employees cannot save them because no court ruling has been handed down and because they are prevented from entering the church property by policemen stationed at the entrance.
DESTRUCTION THROUGH RESTORATION
The case of the Chernihiv Historical Museum is by no means unique. A similar misfortune befell the Pereiaslav National Historical-Ethnographic Preserve. The 18th-century St. Nicholas’s Church was slated to be transferred to the city’s religious community, but the preserve’s employees stood up for their rights and kept the building.
“The clergy failed to pursue the Chernihiv scenario with our preserve,” says director Mykhailo Sikorsky. “First of all, we simply did not let the clergy enter our territory. Second, the Ministry of Culture responded to our appeal with a resolution saying that the museum management and representatives of the religious denomination must conclude an agreement on joint and free use of St. Nicholas’s Church.”
An agreement has not been signed yet, so the preserve’s employees are trying to find a different way of retaining control of the building. The staff of the Bila Tserkva Museum of History and Regional Ethnography is also searching for a way out of a difficult situation: the museum building is threatened with dismantlement, to be replaced by a new church building.
It turns out that a historical monument can be destroyed not only with a bulldozer or other machines but also under the guise of restoration. According to Inna Dorofiienko, the chief restoration painter of Ukrrestavratsiia, the clergy representing the Kyivan Cave Monastery have promised to speed up the restoration of the Transfiguration Church in Berestove, but they do not have qualified restorers at their disposal. According to Dorofiienko, this historical monument may be damaged.
In the opinion of Ukraine’s chief restorer, the mutilation of historical monuments through amateurish restoration work may become the norm because the number of specialists trained in this field is decreasing every year. Now Ukraine has no restorers specializing in metal and wood products, wood buildings, easel icon painting, etc. No one even remembers that these professionals brought international fame to St. Sophia’s Cathedral, the Kyivan Cave Monastery, St. Cyril’s Church, and many other historical and cultural monuments, many of which are listed on the UNESCO world heritage list.
MUSEUMS AS THE OZONE LAYER
Museum employees have drawn up a petition to local and regional authorities and church leaders, calling for negotiations aimed at compiling a list of historical-cultural monuments that cannot be transferred to religious communities. According to Adriana Vialets, the head of the State Ukrainian Folk Decorative Art Museum, all monuments have to belong to the state and the state is responsible for their preservation.
“Museums are the ozone layer that preserves the culture of the entire nation,” she underlined. “Ukraine ranks among countries with the smallest number of museums in the world. Therefore, our task is not only to preserve existing monuments but also to increase their number. The latter goal is virtually unfeasible due to the absence of necessary conditions and respective agencies. In 2000 the Ministry of Culture created the State Service for the Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments. Today, after five long years, branches of this service are working only in five regions of Ukraine. In these circumstances we cannot talk about the spiritual revival of our nation whose character is now more religious than secular.”
The Head of the All-Ukrainian Association of Museums Serhii Krolevets believes that the conflict between religious communities and museums should not be allowed to become acute. It can be very easily eliminated, he says. When a museum is moved from church buildings, it must simply be given another, either one that was previously occupied or newly built.
