The exhibition “Everyone has his own destiny, his world is wide”, which is exhibited in hall No. 8 of the Dnipropetrovsk National Museum named after D.I. Yavornytskyi talks about the national-cultural revival of the Ukrainian nation, the revival of its historical consciousness and traditions, national-ethnographic features, the functioning of the Ukrainian language in all spheres of public life. The exhibition, which was created on the basis of the fund collection of the Dnipropetrovsk National Historical Museum, tells about the spiritual heritage of the Ukrainian people. When creating the exhibition, philosophical concepts served as the basis: FAITH, HOPE, TRADITION, HERITAGE, DESTINY, WORLD. This made it possible to combine the diverse material that should tell about the identity of the Ukrainian people.
It is difficult to find a factor in a person’s spiritual life that plays a greater role than religion. Religion has always been of great importance for the formation of the social system and the spiritual development of society. Church art existed and developed alongside us and at the same time far from us. For many, it remains unknown and unknown to this day. Therefore, at the exhibition, we separately highlighted the theme “Faith in God, faith in man”, which gave an opportunity to talk about these masterpieces of church art. You will be able to see a treasury of creations – icons, old printed books. And next to it are ritual things, church clothes for the time of divine service, materials for conducting ritual church rites: procession, baptism, memorial service, etc.
Complexes of materials tell about the development of the Ukrainian language, which is the most important component of the culture of any nation. Ukrainian language and writing have deep roots. Progressive figures of Ukrainian society constantly fought for the preservation and development of the Ukrainian language. In the funds of the Dnipropetrovsk National Historical Museum named after D.I. Yavornytskyi has more than 6,000 editions of the 17th – 20th centuries. Among them, the most valuable is the collection of old printed books in the Church Slavonic script, which can be seen at the exhibition.
The museum objects that you will be able to see tell you that kobzarstvo is a unique phenomenon not only of Ukrainian, but also of world culture. Over the centuries, the Kobzars preserved the spiritual gene pool of the people, awakened national consciousness in it, passed on thousand-year-old wisdom, revealed the truth of life, called for activity, unity, and the fight against evil. Now the kobza, lyre, and bandura sound again. And the song about the Cossack Mamai, one of the most popular folk heroes in Ukraine, who personified the love of the people for the Zaporozhian Cossacks, is pouring out. His best image is reproduced in folk painting. In such paintings, the Cossack Mamai was always depicted with a kobza, which is a symbol of the singing soul of the Ukrainian people. The horse in the painting symbolized the people’s will, the oak symbolized its power. Such pictures were painted on canvas, on the walls of buildings and even on doors with bright, juicy colors, often with the inscription: “I’m a Cossack, Mama, don’t occupy me.” Some paintings from the museum’s collections are exhibited at the exhibition.
In Ukrainian history, a towel was a song and a prayer, an ornament and a spell. Everyone knows the lines of the Ukrainian song: “… And the towel is embroidered for happiness, she gave it to fate.” This is a sincere confession of our people, a reflection of their secret thoughts, feelings and hopes. Surrounded by love, goodness and beauty, close to the heart, he blessed a person throughout his life, from his first breath to his last. Ukrainians have long believed in the life-giving power of a towel. Folk embroidery is widely represented in the fund collection of the museum, today it includes more than 600 items. The visitor will be able to get acquainted with the towels, on which the whole world of phenomena and beliefs is reproduced.
The collection of ancient and modern Easter cards is a collection of the ornamental art of our people. In it, as in a drop of water, the essence of spirituality, the essence of national culture was most strongly and most clearly revealed. If our people did not create anything else, except Easter eggs, then this would be enough to take an honorable place among civilized nations. It is not by chance that the people, seeking to emphasize the beauty of a person, said: “a man is like an Easter egg.” In the minds of the general public, the pysanka is a symbol of Ukraine, which is why its revival is perceived as a matter of national importance and the revival of pysanka is regarded as a “search for Ukraine and ourselves.”
If in your life you had the chance to see a strange Petrykiv ornament, whose flowers are not similar to any plants known in the world, then you will definitely be amazed by this beauty while looking at the items of work of Petrykiv masters on display. After all, this painting is not just flowers, but images of flowers created by the hands of masters. Academician D.I. was the pioneer of this magical beauty of folk decorative painting. Yavornytskyi, director of the Katerynoslav Historical Museum. Thanks to him, the St. Patrick’s Day flower, now known to the whole world, does not wither to this day.
In today’s world, when the processes of globalization are actively taking place, which erase the peculiarities of national cultures, it is through folk culture, folk creativity that folk art defines national identity
