Much to Discover at the The Ukrainian Culture Celebrities Museum
If you would like to learn more about the celebrities who have helped to shape Ukrainian music, poetry, theater and art, you should definitely consider visiting the Ukrainian Culture Celebrities Museum. Situated in Kiev at Saksahans’koho 97, this massive museum complex provides interesting insight in the lives of four very prominent cultural celebrities from Ukraine.
The Ukrainian Culture Celebrities Museum was opened in 1987 as a memorial complex featuring four different memorial museums. The buildings that form the main part of the museum were once home to the four different cultural icons and their families, so the museum gives a rather touching personal perspective of the lives of these legendary celebrities. The first building was the home of the poetess Lesya Ukrainka. Ukrainka was born in 1871 in Novohrad-Volynskyi, which was a part of the Russian Empire at the time. As the second child of the Ukrainian writer and publisher Olena Pchilka, her mother played a large role in her eventual success and fame as a poet. Ukrainka was home-schooled to avoid the Russian ideologies and language that was commonly ingrained at schools at the time and she was able to read and write by four years of age. Before long she was able to read literature in Russian, Polish, Bulgarian, Greek, Latin, French, Italian, German, English and, of course, Ukrainian. Her introspective poetic side showed itself when she was just eight years old. It was at this tender age that she wrote her first poem titled ‘Hope’ – a poem inspired by the arrest and exile of her aunt. From there her career as a poet slowly blossomed until she had become a legendary literary figure worthy of praise. There are several monuments in Ukraine dedicated to her honor.
Another of the memorial museums is dedicated to Mykhailo Lysenko. Lysenko was a famous Ukrainian sculptor who contributed much to the Ukrainian art world. Also included in the museum is Panas Saksahanskyi and Mykhailo Starytskyi. Saksahanskyi is famed for his work as an actor, producer and theatrical leader, while Starytskyi is given tribute for his literary contributions as a Ukrainian writer. Thus the museum complex touches on almost all aspects of Ukrainian culture and pays tribute to the legendary accomplishments of four great Ukrainian people. The museum is open between 11:00 and 17:00 daily from Wednesday to Sunday.