The Poltava Museum of Local Lore named after Vasyl Krichevsky was founded in 1891 as a significant scientific and cultural center.

V. Dokuchaev – a prominent scientist and a professor donated over 4000 soil samples, nearly 500 samples of rocks and 862 herbarium sheets which lay the basis of the museum. Catherine Skarzhynska (1854-1932) – one of the patrons of art of the museum, gifted more than 20 thousand exhibits and a collection of scientific publications comprising of 4000 books. During 1894-1913 Paul Bobrowski gave several valuable collections of eastern antiquities to the museum.

The funds of the museum have a unique collection of antiques and folk art items not only of local origin, but of various parts of the world: Ancient Egypt, India, Japan, China and Indonesia. The real pride of the museum is the collection of Cossack antiquities, which still remind of the high spirit, liberty and independence of their previous owners. There are about 300 thousand exhibits in the museum. Among them – archaeological, numismatic, natural collections, samples of Poltava folk embroidery, weaving, carpet weaving, wood-carving, church things etc.

The building of the museum is, beyond a doubt, a masterpiece of architecture in the style of Ukrainian modern. It was built during 1903-1908. The project was made by an artist and an architect Vasyl Krichevsky, who combined traditional folk architecture, ancient Ukrainian ornaments, pavilion coverings, twisted columns, two-storied roofs, wood carving, pottery, majolica and folk decorative painting thus creating the basis of a new style – Ukrainian Modern.

A famous Ukrainian artist Mykola Samokish made decorative painting of the walls, and Sergey Vasylkivsky created three large canvases which became the part of the meeting hall: «Cossack Golota and Tatar», «The Milky Way of Romodan» and «The election of Colonel M. Pushkar».

The history of this building and of the museum is closely connected to the Poltava Zemstvo.

In 1891 three small rooms of the outbuilding, which was in the courtyard of the Zemstvo, were given to be the first premises of the museum. Not long afterwards the construction of a new building for the Zemstvo had begun. In 1920 it was completely given to the museum.

By 1941, the museum had a rather rich and large exposition: its funds comprised of 117 900 items. Fascist invaders almost destroyed the whole collection. The building of the museum sustained considerable damage in the fire. From under its ruins, ashes and dust only about 20 thousand exhibits were saved.

After the war, the exposition was restored, but for a long time it was located in an unsuitable building. Only in 1964 the reconstructed building of the museum was solemnly opened to the public. Unfortunately, the building could not be restored to its former beauty. The current reconstruction is being carried out in several stages and already has breathed a new life into this fine piece of architecture.

The Poltava Museum of Local Lore named after Vasyl Krichevsky takes part in a great number of international exhibitions in Germany, Italy, Bulgaria, Russia, India, Austria, Poland and many other countries. The institution is the winner of the Nationwide Museum Festivals «Museum of the Third Millennium» (Dnepropetrovsk, 2005, 2008), laureate of the Republic Prize of D. Yavornytsky for the best scientific and publishing activities.

In addition to the rich and diverse exposition of the museum there are interesting exhibitions, master-classes, clubs and amateur associations such as the salon «Music room», club «Poltava and Poltavites», «Literary Kaleidoscope», «Nature – our temple».

As a scientific institution the museum works in the sphere of natural and historical research. A strong team of researchers constantly work to publish the annual edition – «The Poltava Museum of Local Lore named after Vasyl Krichevsky: collection of scientific articles: little-known pages of history, museology, monument protection», and other scientific issues, such as «From the scientific heritage», «The memory of generations», «My famous countrymen» etc.

The museum is always waiting for you.

fonte: @edisonmariotti #edisonmariotti http://www.pkm.poltava.ua/eng/