Burning for donations: The National Natural History Museum suffers from underfunding
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The National Natural Science Museum reported that there is no heating in the building. The reason was the lack of state funding and subsidies for heating communal services.
The temperature in the exhibition halls reaches about 12 degrees. Museum workers collect funds for heating through charitable contributions from interested visitors.
The deputy director of the museum commented on the situation for UP.Kultura Oksana Chervonenko. She noted that the museum has been facing a similar problem for more than a year – before that, the management wanted to accuse them of misuse of money. However, public publicity helped raise funds to pay off the heating debt.
“I want to say that two minutes ago the director already signed the heating bill. People told us how 165 thousand is calculated now, and we managed to pay this bill. The heat will be connected from Monday“, Oksana Chervonenko said.
| Halls of the National Science Museum. Photo: National Science and Nature Museum of the NAS of Ukraine |
The National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine refused to comment on this situation, relying on the fact that representatives of the Natural History Museum will be able to better explain the situation.
The museum also published an appeal explaining the current situation. Although it is in state ownership and subordinate to the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the Administration of Kyiv, according to the museum staff, “simply ignores the importance of the Museum in the city infrastructure and writes back with meaningless letters“.
The situation with the Academy of Sciences is more complicated. According to museum workers, the Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine has recently been making efforts to maintain the museum, despite the same underfunding. The National Academy of Sciences helped after the destruction on October 10, 2022, and also provided additional premises and funding for fund repositories. However, the building needs much more money for repairs.
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| Restored windows after massive rocket fire on October 10, 2022. Photo: National Science and Nature Museum of the NAS of Ukraine |
“The Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences is trying to compensate, as much as possible, for the lack of funding for communal services and the significant underfunding of salaries for museum employees, but the problem is that the Presidium has very limited opportunities. And as long as science in the country is in the “pen”, our museum will “freeze”. And this is not a matter of war. It was like that before the war. Right now, we’re just doing our best to survive.
It was possible to endure and be cold, understanding the realities of the time, but the regulations for maintaining collections and their importance require our joint efforts” – wrote in the museum.
Damage to the museum earlier
Previously, the National Museum of Natural Sciences also organized a collection for the installation of 57 windows. Then, an explosive wave knocked out the windows from the courtyard in the exposition halls of the geological, paleontological and zoological departments.
Part of the museum received funds for restoration from the state in accordance with the Decree of the President of Ukraine, the rest was paid from charitable contributions. The remainder of the money from replacing the windows was left to pay off the heating debt. Currently, the debt for heat for the 2022-2023 season is UAH 400,000.
In addition to the Natural Science Museum, as a result of the massive rocket attack on October 10, 2022, cultural, educational and scientific objects located in the center of Kyiv were damaged:
- Taras Shevchenko Kyiv National University (red building and building of the Institute of Philology);
- Maksymovich Scientific Library;
- Institute of Literature of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine;
- Institute of Archeography of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine;
- National Philharmonic;
- The building of the Central Council, which houses the Pedagogical Museum of Ukraine and the Museum of the Ukrainian Revolution of 1917-1921.
Read also: The remains of the Skovorody manor will not survive the winter, the museum is asking for help
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