The archives of the Kamianets-Podilskyi State Historical Museum-Reserve in southwest Ukraine are located in 13 rooms of two separate buildings at 3, 3a Virmianskyi Rynok Street.
There are 23 groups of museum objects of different categories. For example, the museum's archaeological collection began to be formed almost 125 years ago, simultaneously with the establishment of the museum in Kamianets-Podilskyi in 1890. A significant part of the archaeological materials was still in the Ancient Storage, which was headed by the founder of our museum, a prominent historian of Podillia, Yurii Setzynskyi.
As of January 1, 2015, the Archaeology group has 35,665 items in storage.
A significant collection of paintings and drawings, on the basis of which the museum's art department was opened in 1982. This group of exhibits consists of sections: Western European art of the XV-XIX centuries, Ukrainian and Russian art of the XVII-XX centuries, contemporary Ukrainian painting, as well as a large number of artists whose activities are connected with our Podil region. As of January 1, 2015, the group of “Paintings” includes 1379 items, and the group of “Graphics” - 2715 items. 21 exhibits have been restored.
As of 01.01.2015, the group “Sculptures” has 96 conservation units, among them there are unique works of art of the late XVII-XX centuries.
A valuable and unique collection of exhibits includes household items of our ancestors: products made of wood, metal, fabric, ceramics and glass. Among them are samples of embroideries of Podillia region collected by the founder of our museum Yurii Sechynskyi in the XIX century. This group includes bulky items: spinning wheels, looms, furniture of the XIX century, and a collection of porcelain.
As of January 01, 2015, the group “Ceramics” includes 2,434 preservation units, the group “Metals” - 3,280, the group “Fabrics” - 843, the group “Wood” - 8,232,148, the group “Glass”.
As of January 1, 2015, the group of “Documents of the pre-revolutionary (new) period” and “Old printed books” includes 1808 preservation units. The collections contain manuscripts written on parchment and paper, issued in the 16th-18th centuries. Among the old printed books are unique books of the XVI-XVIII centuries published in Venice, Rome, Warsaw, Krakow and Vienna.
The Numismatics Group has 27,163 units of preservation, 7,223 units of precious metals. These include Roman coins, Polish coins, votives, and religious objects. In 2012-2013, the exhibits of the Precious Metals group were examined by the Assay Office (Certificate of Examination No. 222, 457).
The “Weapons” group includes 122 items, and in 2015 it was replenished by 27 exhibits.
The “Atheism” group, which has 1,929 conservation units, includes items from the history of religion in Podillia: priests' vestments, icons, and crosses. The most valuable items in this group are the collection of antimensions of the seventeenth and twentieth centuries.
The museum's funds include a collection of valuable photographs and postcards of the nineteenth century, numbering 2838, as well as “Photos of the Soviet (modern) period”, numbering 14991. The collection of “Stamps” includes 9,942 preservation units, “Posters” - 984, “Documents of the Soviet (modern) period” - 21,521.
In 2015, the archives were digitally photocopied in accordance with the order of the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine dated 05.11.2014.
All of the above items are in the fixed assets. In addition, the collections contain items of the scientific and auxiliary fund, which include 20055 items. The total number of exhibits as of January 01, 2015 is 151873. For 9 months of this year the funds received: 2407 items of the main fund, 2505 items of the scientific and auxiliary fund. 98.
The archives of the Kamianets-Podilskyi State Historical Museum-Reserve are a kind of laboratory where one can deepen his/her knowledge and conduct scientific research. Scientists from different cities come to work in the collections. The development of the collections and their scientific acquisition is of great importance for all spheres of the museum's life. Our museum departments were opened on the basis of the study of the museum's stock collections. The items stored in the museum's collections are of great historical, cultural and artistic value.
The chief curator of the collections in the Kamianets-Podilskyi State Historical Museum-Reserve is Inna Shvets.
The main part of the museum is its collections: the number of exhibits in the Kamianets-Podilskyi Museum-Reserve is more than 170,000. One of the groups of preservation funds is the group of paintings, which includes 1545 exhibits. The group is quite diverse and interesting in terms of its identity, historical period, genre, and painting technique.
Among the paintings, the greatest attention is paid to portraits of noblemen of Orthodox and Catholic priests, religious paintings created by unknown artists of the late XVIII and early XIX centuries, coffin portraits of the Tchaikovsky couple made on a wooden base in a metal frame decorated with floral ornaments of the late XVIII century.
Collections of Ukrainian artists are an integral part of the group of paintings in the funds of the Kamianets-Podilskyi museum keeps a large collection of paintings and graphic works by Vyacheslav Rozvadovsky, a prominent Ukrainian artist and teacher of the early twentieth century, it has about 150 works. No less interesting are the paintings and graphic works of Dmytro Ananiovych Zhudin and his daughter Olga Ukrainian artists of the early nineteenth and mid-twentieth centuries. It is worth noting the works of Ukrainian artist Tatiana Yablonska whose works are exhibited in other museums in the country and abroad among the paintings of outstanding artists. A bright spot is the painting of kamianets artist Olexander Grene most of the paintings are restored and regularly exhibited in the exhibition halls of the art gallery.The main task of the fund staff is to care for and store the works of art in the conditions necessary for the exhibits the works of art should be stored in specially equipped cabinets at the proper temperature and in the right conditions.
----
For more information about this project please contact the Ukraine Development Trust, at www.development-foundation.org, contact@development-foundation.org.