“My rule in life was – work, …
not expecting rewards or praise from anywhere and from anyone;
work as long as your hands serve you, and while your heart beats in your chest;
work for the benefit of your people and for the benefit of the Motherland, dear you”
D.I. Yavornytskyi (From a speech at the anniversary), 1914
Dmytro Ivanovich Yavornytskyi is one of the brightest figures not only of Ukrainian, but also of European culture: a scientist-encyclopedist, an inspired researcher in various fields of humanitarian sciences: history, archeology, ethnography, folkloristics; talented writer; a tireless activist of the national social and educational movement, a true Ukrainian patriot; an unsurpassed collector and keeper of ancient monuments, founder of one of the best museums in Ukraine; a multifaceted personality, a person who worthily went through a difficult life path, with its ups and downs, successes and failures.
Almost all these aspects of the personality of our great compatriot are presented at the exhibition.
In a short period of time D.I. Yavornytskyi managed to turn an ordinary provincial museum into a real treasury of historical and cultural monuments. The exhibition presents the best rarities from the collections of D.I. Yavornytskyi (more than 100 items), including: archaeological monuments collected both by Dmytro Ivanovych himself and by archaeologists who worked under his leadership; unique Cyrillic old prints of the 15th-18th centuries. decorated with precious metals, sophisticated carving, embossing (for example, the Gospel of the 15th – early 16th centuries with inserts on gold leaf); cult plastic (crosses, votive plates); Zaporozhian weapons; samples of ancient Egyptian art, Ukrainian decorative and applied art, antiques: old clocks, porcelain and glass products. Thanks to the authority of Dmytro Ivanovich Yavornytskyi, his ability to establish friendly relations with different people, the museum collection was constantly replenished with receipts from the private collections of Levinson, Miklashevskyi, Alekseev, Mikluho-Maclay. Some of these objects are presented at the exhibition.
The most diverse scientific and public activity of D.I. Yavornytskyi, contacts with contemporaries, as well as the inner world reflects private correspondence. Generosity and sensitivity of Dmitry Ivanovich, his high epistolary culture contributed to the formation of a large epistolary heritage, which is preserved today in the historical museum and includes 6,000 letters from more than one and a half thousand correspondents. Just a simple list of their names would take up more than one page, so let’s name only a few of them: M. Hrushevskyi, V. Klyuchevskyi, O. Potebnia, M. Lysenko, Olena Pchilka, S. Vasylkivskyi, M. Kotsiubinskyi, V. Gilyarovskyi, and others. Part of this collection is presented at the exhibition.
Address: 16 K. Marksa Avenue (Dnipropetrovsk Historical Museum)
Tel. for information: 8 (0562) 46-34-22
Museum opening hours: from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. (weekend – Monday);
Ticket price: UAH 2. for children; 4 hryvnias adult.
