MainНовиниMHP–Gromadi Foundation supported museum workers who recreated and digitized ancient clothing from Kyiv region
MHP–Gromadi Foundation supported museum workers who recreated and digitized ancient clothing from Kyiv region
On January 18 Clothing of Myronivka Region project was presented in the Myronivka community (Kyiv region). Within the project, museum workers recreated and digitized local traditional clothing from the late 19th and first half of the 20th centuries. Myronivka Museum of Local Lore project was implemented due to a grant from the MHP-Gromadi Charitable Foundation.
For more than 8 years, Myronivka Museum of Local Lore has been working to preserve the cultural heritage of the region. In 2022, it received the grant from MHP-Gromadi CF, which allowed museum workers to study the history of the local craft — weaving. As part of the project, they restored the weaving loom not only to preserve the traditional craft but also to pass it on to future generations through master classes and other events. Inna Savsiuk, Director of the Myronivka Museum of Local Lore, stated that the study of weaving was the driving force behind the new project, HERITAGE. Clothing of Myronivka Region, aimed at exploring the local traditional clothing of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
For six months, museum workers and leading experts worked on collecting, researching, and digitizing traditional clothing stored in museums, private collections, and community villages. Many items were improperly stored or had already been lost. Therefore, the team of the local lore museum gained the support of leading experts from the Center of Folklore and Ethnography of the Institute of Philology of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv and the State Scientific Center for the Protection of Cultural Heritage against Man-Made Disasters.
The first project stage was to collect the required materials and information about the local traditional clothing. We organized trips to 20 villages within the community involving the best professionals, who collected 39 samples of folk costumes and over fifty interior items.
In the second stage, experts digitized collections of traditional clothing and elements found during the said trips. In total, 118 items were digitized on the photo studio of Around Us. UA NGO. All of them are now being gradually uploaded to the museum-digital:ukraine portal to present the collection to the whole world.
The objective of the third project stage was to recreate the local traditional men’s and women’s costumes. As a result, 4 sets of women’s and 2 sets of men’s traditional costumes were created. At this stage, the museum staff was assisted by experts from VydymoNevydymo, the famous Ukrainian workshop, who made the elements of clothing and jewelry using old photos. By the way, these photos were also digitized during field trips to the villages of the community.
In the future, the recreated items will be used for historical reconstructions, exhibitions, festivals, the interactive photo zone in the museum, as well as other cultural and educational projects intended to promote the traditions of Myronivka region.
Given the project’s importance for cultural heritage preservation, it was supported by MHP-Gromadi Charitable Foundation, which has been engaged in the development of communities and the cultural component in towns and villages for 10 years.
MHP-Gromadi Charitable Foundation actively supports local museums and cultural projects. In 2023, we helped five village museums dedicated to Stus, Symonenko, Leontovych, Chornovil, and Trypillia culture. The previous year, we supported a museum in Shevchenko’s homeland (Cherkasy region), where a range of works was carried out to reconstruct the roofs and locations related to the poet’s childhood. Cultural development and national heritage preservation are one of our strategic directions, as they increase our identity and help us remain Ukrainians
Projects aimed at the national heritage reconstruction are not about the past. They are about the future. Firstly, about all of us. The basic philosophical construct we call national identity must be filled with certain items, emotions, and self-understanding. Such projects allow us to update our knowledge about ourselves, be proud of our culture, and preserve our national identity, which is the key to national security.
MHP-Gromadi is a Ukrainian Charitable Foundation that launched its activities in 2015 to help communities solve their social, economic, and environmental issues. Foundation operates in 13 regions of Ukraine and in over 700 cities and towns. Since the beginning of full-scale invasion, the Foundation has been systematically supporting people in the war zones: Ukrainian defenders, communities; charitable institutions that care for orphans and the elderly, as well as people who have lost their homes and livelihoods due to the war. One of the important vectors of the Foundation’s operations is supporting cultural initiatives (publishing books, producing movies, helping local museums, etc.) Since the beginning of the full-scale war, MHP-Gromadi has allocated more than UAH 80 million for the said.