INFORMATION on the creation of the Museum “Civic Feat of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast in the Events of ATO” with the street exhibition “Ways of Donbass” on the site near the dioramas
In the Dnipropetrovsk region, namely in the city of Dnipropetrovsk, a new museum has been created since January 2016 – the Museum “Civic Feat of the Dnipropetrovsk region in the events of the ATO” with a street exhibition “Ways of Donbass”. Today, on May 19, 2016, the first phase of the museum was created – an open-air exposition “Ways of Donbass” on a site with an area of more than 1,000 square meters. m near the dioramas.
In January 2016, the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Association of Associations of ATO participants initiated the creation of a museum dedicated to ATO heroes. This initiative was supported by the regional state administration headed by Valentin Reznichenko.
A working group of caring, responsible people was created – ATO participants, representatives of the regional state administration, historians, museum workers, volunteers, cultural managers. In particular, it included: Fanygin Yuriy Yuriyovych – volunteer, group leader; Nachovnyi Ivan Ilyich – freelance adviser to the head of the Regional State Administration; Oleh Anatoliyovych Repan – candidate of historical sciences, associate professor of the Department of History of Ukraine at the Dnipropetrovsk National University named after Olesya Honchara, ATO participant; Nataliya Gennadiivna Pershina – Head of the Department of Culture, Nationalities and Religions of the Regional State Administration; Kapustina Nadiya Ivanivna – director of the Dnipropetrovsk National Historical Museum named after D.I. Yavornytskyi; Shulika Nataliya Valeriivna – deputy head of the department for work with citizens’ appeals of the ODA apparatus – head of the department for processing citizens’ appeals; Nataliya Viktorivna Khazan – volunteer, public figure; Shchupak Ihor Yakovych – director of the museum “Memory of the Jewish People and the Holocaust in Ukraine”
Opinions were expressed that the museum of ATO heroes should recreate the main events of the war in the East in chronological order. The main goal of the exposition should be to honor Ukrainian soldiers – participants in the anti-terrorist operation in the East of Ukraine, volunteers and citizens who made a significant contribution to strengthening Ukraine’s defense capabilities and who went through a sacrificial and heroic path in defense of Ukrainian statehood. The main idea of the exposition: “Memory for the dead! Honor to the living!”
The initiators immediately had an idea, in addition to the museum exposition in a closed room, to first create an exposition in the open air, which would impress people and be remembered forever. People remember how everything started very violently and emotionally: the first roadblocks, where people came almost unarmed, with poles to stand to death. This movement has begun and the movement has not yet ended. You have to start with something to show this urge, a sense of pride. It is not so important to record the facts of events in chronological order. It is important to convey the spirit, the feeling of transformation. It is important that the museum or exhibition should be located exactly on Cathedral Square, where the Mile stands, from which the history of our city was counted, where the Transfiguration Temple stands, the Alley of Heroes, military equipment of the war of 1941-1945, the diorama “Battle for the Dnipro”, the historical museum. And right away, materials about volunteer battalions of the ATO – our compatriots – will be presented. There is a certain great idea, you can go to its realization for a long time, or you can take the first step and see how it is perceived by people. You have to start with something.
The ideas of the initiators and the organizational working group, which were designed in the form of a scientific concept and thematic structure of the newly created museum, were picked up by an artist-designer from Kyiv, Viktor Gukaylo, who created a general fort project, sketches of specific objects of the street exposition “Ways of Donbas”, as well as separate nodal complexes of exposition in a closed room.
At the same time, a special department is being created in the Dnipropetrovsk National Historical Museum, which is directly engaged in the creation of the museum (4 people). The main task of the department is the creation of scientific documentation, the collection and arrangement of scientific and informative text materials (concept, structure, thematic exposition plan and methodical materials for a tour in the new museum), assembly – collection of materials – the museum collection on the history of the ATO, about its participants, fallen soldiers, medics, volunteers, etc.
During March – May 2016, according to the project created by the builders, installers, under the supervision of the artist V.M. Gukail, the equipment and main objects of the exhibition “Ways of Donbas” have been assembled.
This exhibition consists of such complexes as: Ukraine is a single state. Dnipropetrovsk region in ATO. On the way to war. ATO cities: combat operations. Defense of DAP: People withstood, concrete did not. Without the right to the future: the destroyed destinies and infrastructure of Donbas. Memory.
A great content load is placed on the photo-chronicle of the ATO, reproduced on large banners around the exposition: Dnipropetrovsk region – an outpost in the struggle for Ukraine’s independence. DAP – “Cyborgs”. Destruction. Military equipment. Medics in the ATO.
Display objects: military equipment with ATO, symbols of war: Blockpost. ZU-23-2 anti-aircraft installation. Ambulance. DAP BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicle. The turret of the T-64 tank. Regimental mortar PM-43. “Pisky” bus stop. Military jeep. Sunflowers are forged. Road. Road signs: cities of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Sculptural composition “Soldier and girl”.
The exposition opens with a military checkpoint reproduced in the shape and typical dimensions, on the concrete slabs of which is a schematic image of Ukraine – United Ukraine, with Crimea and Donbass – in the colors of the national flag. The banner opposite depicts a checkpoint located on the administrative border between Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk regions. It is similar to those checkpoints that stood and continue to stand on the roads of Dnipropetrovsk region and Ukraine. The photo is quite symbolic and eloquently proclaims the well-known opinion that it was Dnipropetrovsk that became the outpost that stopped the spread of separatism and Russian aggression in March-April 2014.
Road signs with the names of cities in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions are on display. Visitors seem to walk along the conventional road of war and recall the main events of 2014-2016, when all of Ukraine excitedly watched as ATO fighters advanced through the occupied territory.
In the center of the exhibition is a large metal structure – the remains of the destroyed Donetsk airport, which became a symbol of the indomitability and courage of the Ukrainian defenders, for which the battles have continued continuously since May 26, 2014. Ukrainian heroes – “cyborgs” – defended the airport for 242 days, until on January 22, 2016, the old and new terminals, as well as the fortification tower of the Donetsk airport, were completely destroyed.
Bus stop “Sands” in Donbas destroyed by a “Grad” projectile. Another terrorist crime against humanity. Whole settlements are wiped off the face of the earth by the artillery fire of non-humans, and the destroyed industrial infrastructure is decades of tireless work for future generations.
Director of the museum N.I. Cabbage
