Museum of Lesya Ukrainka

We invite you to the Lesya Ukrainka museum page on the Facebook social network

From the history of the museum

In the mid-1980s, on the initiative of Nestor Burchak, the rector of the Lutsk State Pedagogical Institute named after Lesya Ukrainka, and thanks to the research work of the institute's teachers - G. I. Mudryk, O. G. Burchak, A. Z. Omelkovets, M. K. Bozhenka, T. O. Borysyuk (Violins), O. M. Markovska - the collection of the museum fund has begun. The basis was documents and materials highlighting the Volyn origins of Lesya Ukrainka's talent: poetic first editions published in the magazine "Zorya" (1884); lifetime collections "On the Wings of Songs" (1893), "Thoughts and Dreams" (1899), "Reviews" (1902); a unique collection of postcards of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. with landscapes of the cities where the writer lived and worked; "Ukrainian Patterns" by Olena Pchilka; folkloristic materials from the personal archive of K. Kvitka and others.

On September 11, 1985, the celebration of the opening of the Lesya Ukrainka Museum of the LDPI gathered many guests in Volyn. I. Denysyuk, M. Zhulynskyi, Yu. Shcherbak, M. Hrycyuta, L. Skupeyko, V. Rymska, L. Ivanova, V. Ivanenko left the following words in the book of reviews: "The day of the opening of the Lesya Ukrainka Museum in Lutsk is bright, unforgettable day. After all, Volyn played a decisive role in Lesya's spiritual growth. It was here that her famous motto was born - hope! Hope! Here, in Lutsk, in Kolodyazhny, she developed as a writer, as a thinker of a worldwide cultural range. During the time of Lesya Ukrainka, Volyn was one of the capitals of Ukrainian literature, our art. The museum in Lutsk is one of the rays of national love and respect that illuminates the figure of Lesya Ukrainka. We thank the organizers of the museum, all those who contributed their work and talents to the holy cause - the glorification of the daughter of the Ukrainian people."

The desire to document the biographical facts of the Volyn period of the writer's life motivated the museum staff to scientific work. Archival and source research was based on the idea of ​​gathering information about the Kosachi family and the "Volyn circle" of the writer's acquaintances. At the end of the 1980s, T. Skrypka and O. Markovska were lucky enough to meet the eldest son of O. Kosach-Kryvynyuk - Mykhailo Kryvynyuk (1905–1993), who lived in Sverdlovsk, and Maria Sobinevska-Beshkurova (1897–1993) - a pupil of the Karpo family (named parents of K. Kvitka), who lived in Kislovodsk. The memories of M. Kryvynyuk, recorded by researchers, made it possible to find out important moments from the biography of O. Kosach-Kryvynyuk, the circumstances of the Kryvynyuk family's life in the 20s-40s of the 20th century, and to comment on the family iconography.

M. Sobinevska told about the life of the Kvitok couple in the Caucasus. For the first time, she met L. P. Kosach in 1902 in Kyiv at the Karpov family's house. Subsequently, together with F. S. Karpova and the Kvitok couple, who took care of the girl as if she were her own child, she lived in Georgia. In her letters to O. Markovska, M. Sobinevska wrote: "Larisa Petrovna Kosach-Kvitka loved me as a mother, respected me as a person, albeit a small one, in 1902 and the following years until the memorable year of 1913. I remember my aunt Lesya, who helped me become a man with her kindness, warm attitude and motherly love."

The first memorial items of the Kosachiv family arrived at the museum in 1988: a 1917 plan of the land estates of the Mglynsky Key in Chernihiv Oblast; furniture (cupboard, desk, chair); drawings by Yuriy Kosach. These exhibits were handed over by Valentina Boldyreva (1910–2000), a relative of P. A. Kosach, and in 1989 furniture belonging to the family of Izidora Kosach-Borisova was purchased from Oleksandr Petrov.

Research work, cooperation with researchers of the life and work of Lesya Ukrainka, colleagues from Kyiv, Kolodyazhny, Novohrad-Volynskyi, Yalta gave museum workers unexpected discoveries. The history of the residence of the Kosachiv family in the village belongs to these.Dam of the Kamin-Kashir district of the Volyn region. This fact was documented in 1987 by I. Denysiuk and T. Skrypka. Their persistent searches were confirmed by archival documents, photos of the Kosachs from this corner of Poland, folklore records of Olena Pchilka and turned, at first glance, secondary details from the life of the family into extremely important evidence about Lesya Ukrainka, Olena Pchilka, Petr Kosach, Oksana Kosach, Olena Teslenko- Prykhodko, Yuriy Teslenka-Prykhodko, and others.

The same tireless searches and scientific thoroughness led museum workers to Olga Borysova-Sergiiv (1914–2001). The daughter of Izidora Kosach-Borisova remained almost the only one of those who could bring contemporaries closer to the ancestral "space" of the Kosachs. She was a witness and participant in the events that prompted the relatives of Lesya Ukrainka to leave the Motherland forever in 1943. Olesya, as Olga Yuriivna was called in her family, survived the horrors of the Second World War with her children and mother, emigrated to the USA in 1949 through the DP camps. Lived in Piscataway, New Jersey.

Since 1988, correspondence between O. Sergiyev and T. Skrypka began. Each letter from Olga Yuryivna convinced the Lutsk researcher that there is an almost unknown archive of the Kosachiv family. It was guarded by I. Kosach-Borisova for decades abroad, and after her death in May 1980, O. Sergiyev became the custodian of this "national treasure". "Everything that I have, that my mother has kept, everything belongs to Ukraine," she wrote in one of her letters to T. Skrypka and invited her to visit her.

Due to the realities of the time, the trip was postponed, but the researcher questioned and searched for those who could meet with O. Sergiyiv. Such an opportunity happened to M.G. Zhulinsky, who in 1988 went on a scientific mission to the USA. "On the recommendation of Tamara Skrypka," recalls Mykola Hryhorovych, "in 1989, I visited Olga Serhiyev at her house in Piscataway, near New York. Small in stature, thin, quick, sharp with a word, with an excellent memory, this 75-year-old woman preserved everything that was left of her aunt Olga Petrovna and her mother, and I gladly handed it over to the Institute of Literature named after T.G. Shevchenko of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, a unique collection of photo originals and memorial items of Lesya Ukrainka and her family." In November 1989, a significant event for Ukraine took place in the museum of Lesya Ukrainka of the Lutsk State Pedagogical Institute. For the first time, 74 photos from the archive of the Kosachiv family were presented at the exhibition "Return... Lesya Ukrainka and her family in a unique collection of photo originals from the middle of the 19th and early 20th centuries, donated by Olga Sergiyev from the USA", prepared by T. Skrypka and O. Markovska.

Time demanded to tell the true story about the fate of Lesya Ukrainka's relatives. The "Return..." exhibition opened an information space for materials about the family tragedy. Thanks to T. Skrypka's publications, Volyn residents read fragments from "Chronology of the Life and Work of Lesya Ukrainka" by O. Kosach-Kryvyniuk; got acquainted with the memories of Izidora Kosach-Borisova and others.

Scientific and research work gave museum workers interesting meetings with researchers of Lesya Ukrainka's life and work. Every year, the museum's funds were replenished with new intelligence, articles, and monographs about the writer. In addition to their scientific significance, these materials had another feature - the author's gift signatures. This is how the scientific and auxiliary fund of the museum was formed, which now includes more than a hundred publications.

Since February 1981, conferences dedicated to the writer have become traditional for the Lutsk State Pedagogical Institute. A scientific gathering in 1986 on the occasion of the 115th anniversary of the birth of Lesya Ukrainka, united by the theme "Singer of Courage and Beauty", allowed specialists to clarify a number of important literary problems and outline the prospects for future research.

1991 was a memorable year for Volyn: in February, to mark the 120th anniversary of the birth of Lesya Ukrainka, the interuniversity scientific and theoretical conference "Lesia Ukrainka. Personality. Art. Dolya", and in September of the same year he gathered the participants of the International Symposium "Lesya Ukrainka and World Culture" in Lutsk. Famous Ukrainian artists - Larisa Onishkevich (USA), Lida Terziyska (Bulgaria), Mikulas Nervly (Slovakia), Yaroslav Rozumny (Canada), Stepan Kozak (Poland), Taras Hunchak (USA) and others, having visited the museum of Lesya Ukrainka, noted in the book of reviews : "Let the museum become the Center of Volyn Forestry."

Annual scientific readings and seminars, international conferences, started in 1996, testify to the continuity of the traditions of scientists' communication. The chronology of these events was reflected both in the main and in the scientific and auxiliary funds of the museum.

The constant interest of visitors to the life and work of Lesya Ukrainka, the history of the Kosachi family contributed to the renewal of the museum. Work on this project began on the initiative of N. G. Stashenko in June 2003.

On February 23, 2004, the presentation of the new exposition took place, the basis of which was the sections:

I. "Workers in the field of Ukraine": history of the Drahomanovy-Kosachi family.

II. "Hope is the first song I sang to her": Lesya Ukrainka and the Kosachi family in Lutsk.

III. Volyn roads of Kosachiv.

IV. Lesya Ukrainka and her era.

V. "Songs of the Beloved Volhynia Region": Ukrainian folklore in the records and researches of Lesya Ukrainka, Olena Pchilka, Olga Kosach-Kryvyniuk, Klyment Kvitka.

VI. The miracle of "Forest song".

VII. Science about Lesya Ukrainka: formation, development, prospects.

VIII. Relatives "by blood and spirit": history and tragedy of the Kosachi family.

Art festivals and art exhibitions have become an integral part of the museum's work. The museum presented the assets of its own art fund on its twentieth anniversary - in 2005. The exhibition exhibited the drawings of Lesya Ukrainka's nephew - Yuriy Kosach; paintings by a contemporary of the writer, illustrator of the magazines "Native Land" and "Young Ukraine", published by Olena Pchilka, Andronyk Lazarchuk; works of art by modern Ukrainian artists - O. Baidukov, K. Borysyuk, L. Medvedya, L. Ivanova, S. Baidukova, V. Zhupanyuk, L. Khvedchuk, M. Shamryla, V. Lytvyn, V. Kyrylkova, A. Klimova, K. Yakubeka and others. Many paintings from the museum collection are dedicated to Lesya Ukrainka or illustrate her works.

Over the last decade, the museum collection has been enriched with new exhibits that have their own memorable stories.

In December 2002, Lviv researcher Maria Valyo presented the museum with a first edition of the collection "Reviews" by Lesia Ukrainka from the personal library of Maria Furtak-Derkach (1896 - 1972) with the signature of the owner - "Mariya Furtak". Back in 1943, O. Kosach-Kryvyniuk left a part of the writer's priceless archive to her, and already in 1947 "Unpublished works of Lesya Ukrainka" with a foreword by M. Derkach were published. Together with the collection, the manuscript materials of M. Derkach were sent to the museum.

In 2004, VNU professor Myroslav briefly transferred to the museum the poetic anthology "Ukrainian muse", which was published in Kyiv in 1908 under the arrangements and under the editorship of O. Kovalenko. This rare edition presents Ukrainian poetry of the beginning of the 20th century. The works of Lesya Ukrainka and Olena Pchilka with short reference and biographical materials about the writers are also included here. The book is also interesting in that it is the first time in tsarist Russia that the hymn "Ukraine is not dead yet..." by P. Chubynsky was published.

Lesya Ukrainka's "Literary and Scientific Herald" and "Ancient History of Eastern Peoples" added to the museum collection of rarities thanks to Yevhen Sverstyuk in 2008. As you know, Larisa Kosach wrote a textbook on the history of the ancient East while living in Lutsk and Kolodyazhny during 1890–1891, for education of younger sisters and brother. The manuscript was preserved for many years by O. Kosach-Kryvyniuk, who published the book in Katerynoslav in 1918. Special edition of the "Literary and Scientific Herald" for 1913. This issue is dedicated to the writer and has a dedication: "To the unforgettable memory of Lesya Ukrainka, the Editorial Board of "Literature -Scientific Herald", which she decorated with her works for so many years".

The decoration of the exposition was Lesya Ukrainka's lifetime collection "Thoughts and Dreams" (Lviv, 1899) and six issues of "Literary and Scientific Herald" with first editions of works by Lesya Ukrainka and Elena Pchilka. The museum received such a generous gift from the rector of the East European National University, Professor I. Ya. Kotsan.

In September 2011, the museum collection was enriched with another book "Literary and Scientific Herald". The issue of the magazine, published in January-March 1912, is now a priceless rarity, because this is where the extravaganza drama "Forest Song" by Lesya Ukrainka is included. This gift to the museum of Lesya Ukrainka was made by the famous Ukrainian writer and public figure Ivan Drach.

Lesya Ukrainka of the University Museum has a talent for generous people. It is their gifts that form the main fund of the museum collection. The only copy in Volyn of "Stepan Rudansky's Recitals", published in Kyiv in 1880 under the publisher's cryptonym "N-y G-ъ Volynskyi", is kept in the university museum of Lesya Ukrainka. This rarity was donated by the Igor Palitsa Foundation "Novy Lutsk" in 2013.

Of course, the most valuable in the museum's collections are the manuscripts and memorabilia of Lesya Ukrainka and her close circle. In 2007, Lesya Ukrainka Volyn National University purchased five autographs of Lesya Ukrainka for the museum. These are postcard letters sent in 1911–1913 from Egypt in Kutaisi to relatives. Three of them are addressed to F. S. Karpova (the so-called mother of Kliment Kvitka), who lived in the Caucasus with the Kvitok couple, two letters are written to M. Sobinevska.

Together with the writer's autographs, 20 postcards from the writer's close circle arrived at the museum; they are dated 1904–1915. Among them are postcards from acquaintances to Larisa Kosach and Kliment Kvitka, postcards to M. Sobinevska addressed to K. Kvitka. All these memories became a real find, because they were not mentioned either in the family archive or in research studies about the writer.

For the first time, the handwritten sources were presented to museum visitors on April 27, 2007 at the exhibition "...Maybe it's just a legend, that land is lit by the sun": unknown autographs of Lesya Ukrainka and her close circle." The exposition highlighted the history of Larisa Kosach's travels to Egypt in 1909–1913, her creative pursuits and artistic masterpieces written at that time.

Archives, like people, have their fates. This truth was once again confirmed by the event that took place on April 2, 2009. The State Service for Control of the Movement of Cultural Values ​​across the State Border of Ukraine, represented by the then head Yuriy Savchuk, handed over archival documents and memorial items of Lesia Ukrainka and her family to the Lesya Ukrainka University Research Institute for permanent preservation. Kosachiv, who returned to Ukraine thanks to Tamara Skrypta.

As a matter of fact, this is another part of the Kosach archive, which Izidora Kosach-Borisova and Olga Serhiyiv kept for many years. Among the originals are two photo cards that belonged to Lesya Ukrainka.

On one of them, Lesya Ukrainka together with Olga Kobylyanska. This photo was taken in Chernivtsi in 1901.

The second picture is a moment in the life of Larisa Kosach, captured by Yuriy Teslenko-Pryhodko; the photo was taken in Kyiv in May 1913.

According to Izidora Kosach-Borisova's recollections, both photos were on Lesya Ukrainka's desk.

Of particular interest are the memories of the Kosachiv family: a 19th-century Poltava sheet that belonged to Olena Pchilka; silk ribbons of Larisa, Olga, Oksana, Isidora; authorized typescripts of Olga Kosach-Kryvyniuk; memories and materials of Izidora Kosach-Borisova; rare photos of Oksana Kosach-Shymanovska, Yury Kosach, Olga Sergiyev; documents signed by K. Kvitka; materials for the biography of Oksana Dragomanova and others.

On February 25, 2010, the director of the T.G. Shevchenko Institute of Literature of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Mykola Zhulynsky, handed over a collar belonging to Olena Pchiltsa to the museum. This exhibit was brought to Ukraine by Yaroslav Leshko, the Chairman of the Board of the Ukrainian Museum in New York.

An equally generous gift came from Maria Turchenyuk from the USA. She, through the mediation of Tamara Skrypka, transferred the embroidery of Izidora Kosach-Borisova to the museum collection.

During 2010–2011, the memorial fund received the materials of Svitozar Mykhailovych Drahomanov (1884–1958): a folder for papers and an album for photographs, as well as an interpreter's certificate issued by a school in the German city of Regensburg: "Sertifikate Interprer School Regensburg. Mr. Prof. Svitozory Drahomanovy".

Among the special rarities is the commemorative "Vitznaka with Lesya Ukrainka" (1971), produced on the occasion of the centenary of the writer's birthday. This is a bronze pendant (pendant) of the work of the famous sculptor, the author of the monuments to Lesya Ukrainets in Cleveland (USA) and Toronto (Canada), Mykhailo Chereshniovskyi. Oksana Volodymyrivna Miyakovska-Radysh, who lives in the USA, presented this exhibit to the Museum of Lesia Ukrainka VNU for its 25th birthday. In 2014, the same donor received books and a tablecloth with the Miyakovsky family monogram. We will casually mention that the Kosach and Miyakovski families have been friends since the time they lived in Volyn, and in a distant foreign land this friendship was preserved by their children - O. Miyakowska-Radysh and I. Kosach-Borisova.

Many valuable exhibits were donated to the museum collection by Tamara Skrypka. Of great interest is a postcard with a portrait of Lesya Ukrainka, which was printed in Vienna in 1917. The card presents the last photograph of the writer, taken in Kyiv in May 1913 by Yu. Teslenka-Pryhodko (the original is kept in the Museum of Lesia Ukrainka at the University of Warsaw). The publisher of the postcard was Petro Yuriyovych Dyatlov (1883–1933), a well-known public figure and translator of Lesya Ukrainka's works. Today, such postcards are a rare collectible, because they are authentic documents of the era.

During 2008–2009, Tamara Skrypka donated more than 20 rare books to the museum collection. The real treasures of the main fund are "Folk melodies from the voice of Lesya Ukrainka. Written and arranged by K. Kvitka" (1917–1918), a copy of "Chronology of the life and work of Lesya Ukrainka" by O. Kosach-Kryvyniuk, published in 1970 in the USA. Together with memorial items, autographs from the archive of the Lesya Ukrainka Research Institute, this book emphasizes the biography and scientific achievements of the younger sister of the writer - Olga Kosach-Kryvynyuk (1877–1945). Most of the transferred editions appeared in the diaspora, in particular: "Lesya Ukrainka. Works in 12 volumes" (New York, 1953–1954), "Lesia Ukrainka. Selected works" (Regensburg, 1946), "Lesia Ukrainka. Boyarinya" (Toronto, 1971), "Zadesnyansky R. Lesya Ukrainka" (B.m., 1945), "Lesya Ukrainka (1871–1971): a collection of works for the 100th anniversary of the poetess" (Philadelphia, 1971–1980), " Five Russian plays. With one from the Ukrainian" (New-York, 1977), "Spirit of flame. A Collection of the works of Lesya Ukrainka" (New-York, 1950) and others.

Equally important are the receipts relating to Yuri Mykolayovych Kosach (1908–1990). His editorial and writing work is presented in the publication "Beyond the Blue Ocean", which was published in New York from September 1959 to August 1963. Currently, six issues of the magazine are preserved in the museum's collection, thanks to Tamara Skrypka. Diaspora periodicals are represented by extremely interesting issues of the magazines "Arka" (Munich, 1946-1947), "New Days" (Canada-Toronto, 1966), "Ovid" (Buenos-Aires, Argentina, 1950), etc., on the pages which published the works of both Lesya Ukrainka and other Ukrainian artists. In Ukraine, such sources belong to real rarities

Antique items from the end of the 19th to the beginning of the 20th, namely a steel knife for cutting paper with a decorated copper handle and an inkwell made of gray marble, donated by Tamara Skrypka, organically fit into the exhibition.

Thanks to the people who took care of the museum in different years, it became a well-known center of cultural life in Volyn. From 2007 to 2016, exhibitions dedicated to Lesya Ukrainka, the Kosachi family, cultural figures of the past and present were organized from the museum's stock materials:

• "...Maybe it's just a legend, that land is lit by the sun": unknown autographs of Lesya Ukrainka and her close circle" - February 2007;
• "Travel map of Lesya Ukrainka" - February 2008;
• "From the funds of the Lesya Ukrainka Museum of the University: new receipts" - February 2009;
• "Olena Pchilka and Yurii Kosach: echo of generations" - February 2010;
• "Museum of Lesia Ukrainka VNU: history, facts, figures" (to the 25th anniversary of the Museum of Lesia Ukrainka VNU) - October 2010;
• ""The stars will always shine in our songs..." (Folkloristic activity of Lesya Ukrainka, Olena Pchilka, O. Kosach-Kryvynyuk, K. Kvitky)" - February 2011;
• "The "Forest Song" of Lesya Ukrainka in the graphics of Ukrainian artists" (joint project of the Museum of Prominent Figures of Ukrainian Culture (Kyiv) and the Museum of Lesia Ukrainka VNU) - September 2011;
• "Lesia Ukrainka in the national book publishing house: stories of the first editions of Lesya Ukrainka's works" - February 2012;
• "Volyn images: the Kovel elite of horses. XIX - beginning 20th century." – February 2013;
• Shevchenkiana of the Kosachi family - February 2014;
• "City of "Hope": Lutsk in the life and creative destiny of Lesya Ukrainka" - February 2015;
• ""Thank you that we met in the world": Yevhen Sverstyuk in the history of Lesya Ukrainka East European National University" - December 2015;
• ""Kill, we will not surrender...": the image of Lesya Ukrainka in modern graphics, political poster, poster" - February 2016;
• "Ukrainka" - February 2016.

The museum collection and its history are presented in the publications:

Documents and materials of Lesya Ukrainka and the Kosachi family in museums and institutions in Volyn / Organized. T. Danylyuk-Tereshchuk, N. Pushkar. - Lutsk, 2008.

Lesya Ukrainka and modernity: coll. of science pr. / arrange. N. Stashenko. - T. 6. - Lutsk: Volyn State Library. National University named after Lesi Ukrainka, 2010. – P. 567–576.

Lesya Ukrainka: fate, culture, era: collection Art. and mat. – Issue 1. – Lutsk: Volyn. national University named after Lesi Ukrainka, 2010. – P. 177–184.

Lesya Ukrainka: fate, culture, era: collection Art. and mat. – Issue 2. – Lutsk: Volyn. national University named after Lesi Ukrainka, 2012. – pp. 177–184.

University museums: European experience and Ukrainian practice: coll. Ave. International of the scientific and practical conference (October 6–7, 2011, Kyiv) – Nizhyn: Mykola Gogol NSU Publishing House, 2012. – pp. 80–89.

Honors of Lesya Ukrainka VNU Museum:

In 2005, by order of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, the Lesya Ukrainka University Museum was awarded the title "Exemplary Museum", in 2008 this status was confirmed.

In 2009, at the First All-Ukrainian Competition of Public Museums of Ukraine, the exposition of the Lesya Ukrainka Museum of the University of Ukraine was recognized as the best among the public museums of Ukraine and awarded 1st place in the nomination "Best Exhibition Design".

On May 4, 2012, the Lesia Ukrainka Museum at the East European National University (now Volyn National University) was named "People's Museum" by Resolution of the Board of Culture and Tourism of the Volyn Regional State Administration No. 2/1.

The museum workers read their mission and social purpose in the words of Lesya Ukrainka's closest and truest biographer, her sister Olga Kosach-Kryvynyuk: "With the best tribute to the memory of Lesya Ukrainka, this embodiment of nobility, gentleness, kindness, and at the same time indomitable strength and courage , it will be when her young compatriots with indomitable hope in their hearts will work as persistently as she does on themselves to become worthy citizens of her beloved Ukraine."

Contact details: danyluktanya@ukr.net, +380955382477: Tetiana Danyluk-Tereshchuk.