how to preserve cultural heritage near the front and after the occupation

“Community” and “interaction” – these words were most often heard by the participants of the “Heritage: Space for Work” conference. Heads of small museums, libraries, and cultural centers that visited the occupation or are located near the front line gathered on September 17 in the capital’s Art Arsenal. The space that arose during the occupation of Kyiv by the Russian Empire is now filled with those who are trying to overcome the influence of this empire in their village or town.

Amazing stories of saving heritage and overcoming provincialism were collected by journalist UP. Kultura Anastasia Bolshakova.

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Cannot be stolen

Victoria Nerush from the city of Mena in the Chernihiv region takes care of the preservation of a rather amazing heritage, which cannot simply be taken and stolen from the museum. So, this treasure survived the last Russian occupation of the village at the beginning of the full-scale invasion in 2022.

“Our heritage is our Minsk dialect. And it belongs to everyone, from the first “aw” of a child to the pure old saying of the elderly.” – says Victoria about her treasure.

The village kept its dialect for many centuries, its history goes back to the times of Kyivan Rus. It did not disappear even when in the USSR this speech was branded inferior and “rural”. It persisted even when, during the independence period, the Minsk dialect was accused of popularizing the Ukrainian language and being oversaturated with Russianisms.

And now, after the dramatic events of the occupation, it became clear that this speech is an important factor for the unification of the village community and awareness of local identity.

“Already in 2022, we started working with our speech and did what children and young people like the most, released a board game. It included 80 of the most “delicious” and interesting expressions. And everyone became curious about what these words were, where they This is how grandmothers, mothers, and other relatives were remembered“, says Mrs. Nerush.

Together with local residents, the project team collected video and audio with authentic Minsk dialect, published various collections and a dictionary of dialect words. Local youth found a substitute for slang “lovely” – “county”. This is how the comic book about Rahman the cat was born.

They began to create merch with various words of the Minsk dialect, such as, for example, a T-shirt with a picture of a pumpkin and the signature “karakhonka”. In it, Victoria came to the Art Arsenal.

A poet-humorist also contributed to the collection of poems using the Minsk dialect Hryts Gayovywho grew up in Menshchyna. At one time, he was sent to the camps for the Ukrainian language and satirical poems. So, creating a triptych poem, he jokingly wrote that “for the first time in my life I wrote to order” and did it for pleasure.

The preservation of the dialect by the inhabitants of Mena began to affect the space as well. The team of Victoria Nerush was given an authentic mud house, in which they started to hold cultural events. As Victoria jokes, the house is guarded by a group of women who have created a musical ensemble. They often hold their rehearsals there and participate in project events.

“We have combined two components – restoration of tangible and intangible heritage, even in the name “Balachki na randuku”. Runduk is a porch on which it is more convenient to sit down and talk. Picking seeds, stroking a cat, looking at nature, listening to birds and chattering in our Minsk dialect. We plastered this house with clay in the summer, restored it inside, adhering to all technologies and traditions“, Victoria adds.

After that, the youth joined the process of restoring the heritage. This is how they began to restore mosaics at bus stops – together they restored 5 mosaic panels. And they are waiting for the fact that joint work will inspire new projects.

Preservation philosophy and new formats

The National Museum of Grigory Skovoroda was located in the village of Skovorodinivka in the Kharkiv region. After a rocket attack on it in the spring of 2022, only the philosopher’s statue survived, which became a kind of symbol of stability. However, for a long time the building needed conservation and emergency work.

So, without waiting for funding from the state, the leadership opened its own congregation, and that’s when its community appeared all over Ukraine. Over time, the joint action grew into a new site that describes Skovoroda’s life and offers to rethink the future of the Skovoroda Museum.

The museum was represented at the conference by the deputy director Nastya Ishchenko. She described how the work to save the museum created a large non-local community: “In fact, it was this whole story with the “301 True Friends of Skovoroda” collection that became the point of inspiration for this project. Then we could not lose the visibility of the museum in time and space, although it was in November-December that the donation crisis began. So we decided to dedicate the collection to Hryhoriy Savych’s birthday. At that time, the most impressive thing was that we had very large donations – from 100 to 150 thousand hryvnias. But real goosebumps appeared when I saw donations of 5, 10 hryvnias each and realized that a person was sitting on the other side of the screen and was giving this money to our museum“.

Nastya Ishchenko, deputy director of the Grigory Skovoroda Museum

Photo courtesy of FSSU

After a successful collection, research work began, where the museum staff wanted to show his values ​​and virtues, but not idealize the image of Skovoroda, complicate or exaggerate his story. And so the community expanded from those who had known about him for a long time to those who met him for the first time. And she also refused the literal form, although the funds for reconstruction are still kept in the institution’s account and are awaiting approval from the state.

“This does not mean that by abandoning the forms, we do not continue to work on the reconstruction of the museum. But we came to a different deep meaning, we understood that restoration is not only about walls. And when they created the site, they were afraid of the reaction to bright colors in the design and other forms. But even philosophers and researchers supported us and saw the depth and simplicity there“, the patroness said.

In the new form of the museum, literal digitization was abandoned: 3D tours, VR tours and photos of all exhibits. Currently, employees are collecting feedback about the site to shape a new vision of the platform together with visitors. The restoration of the walls was planned for later, due to the security situation in the region. Therefore, three “Skovoroda paths” have now appeared on the website: on one of them, aid is collected not for the museum, but for the needs of Kharkiv Oblast communities and the armed forces.

“An interesting insight into the existence of the museum outside its borders occurred when children from a neighboring village came for an excursion. Because in general, the locals are already used to the fact that Skovoroda lived nearby and simply pass by. There was a boy to whom I said: “Can you imagine that it is as if Batman lived with you in the neighboring village.” And his reaction immediately changed. He saw the oak under which Hryhoriy Savych was sitting, and was delighted that he could sit in the same place. Because the main problem when you work with a destroyed heritage is that we start to appreciate it when we have lost it. But here, to the younger generation, we can talk about the fact that a museum is not only walls“, Nastya concludes.

Preservation of one’s own identity

The project that was most mentioned at the conference was the Kapitolivska village library in a de-occupied village in the Kharkiv region and the mural organized by its team in honor of the poet and writer tortured by the Russians Volodymyr Vakulenkoa resident of this village.

Chief librarian – Julia Kakulya-Danilyuk – in order to work with the locals after the deoccupation, she underwent additional training. Among them is training on moderating film clubs from the Docudays documentary festival platform. It is the film clubs that have become a favorite pastime of residents of Kapitolivka, they are held in the village library.

Yuliya Kakulya-Danilyuk, librarian of the Capitol Village Library

Photo courtesy of FPSU

The main purpose of the space is to unite the community separated by the war, to find points of contact.

“It was very interesting during the occupation: we were all in the same place at the same time, but everyone has different memories of it. It was very difficult because you didn’t have freedom in your own village, you had a lot of restrictions, you had to walk with white bandages. For some it was humiliating, and some considered it the norm. I resented somehow marking myself when I’m at home, you know? And someone was glad that they were given rations, they were not insulted. Only about 8 tortured people, among whom was Volodymyr, was learned only later. And this different perception separated us“, Ms. Yulia shares.

Only half of the population remained in the village – less than 800 people. But together they needed to rebuild the village, restore the area from the occupation and try to return to everyday life. The common space, as Yulia says, became such an impetus.

“More and more people come to watch movies in the library. We hold discussions and give everyone the opportunity to express themselves, and this is how things progress little by little. I see that they have thought, I see that they speak differently and ask questions. I think that this is a good result, albeit a small one“, said the librarian.

An important project to preserve the memory of the tragic events of the occupation was the mural at the entrance to the village. Volodymyr Vakulenko also worked on the idea of ​​this project, but they were able to implement the idea only after his death.

The mural did not depict the writer himself in order to avoid pathos and heroization of one person. Instead, local children and artists from Kharkiv were invited, and they showed an interpretation of local traditions and culture. The project was named in the words of Victoria Amelina “Home is where your footprints are.” It was she who found Vakulenko’s hidden diaries, and later died after Russian shelling in Kramatorsk.

“I want to involve as many organizations as possible, which will now teach something new – creative, cultural, and psychological relief, for example. And I really want to attract not only adults, but also teenagers and children. Because this is our future, but they are all so traumatized, and they understand because of whom it happened. That’s why I want them to have a sense of patriotism and love for their country“, Yulia concluded.

In addition to these three projects, 11 organizations from Odesa, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Sumy, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Donetsk, and Luhansk regions told their stories. And they were coordinated and mentored by four leading art institutions – Art Arsenal, Kharkiv Litmuseum, Odesa National Art Museum and Platform of Cultural Initiatives “Isolation”. Canada’s Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Ukraine was a guest at the final conference Natalka Tsmots.