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Where there is no law, but every man does what is right in his own eyes, there is the least of real liberty
Henry M. Robert

Bourgeoisie returns to single family housing evicting museums

13 November, 2012 - 00:00

Workers of the Museum of One Street From left to right: Vladyslava Osmak, research associate; Leonid Krasnytsky, a member of the Maister Society; Mykhailo Hruzov, collector; Dmytro Shlyonsky, museum director; and (seated) Vitaly Kovalynsky, collector and expert on Kyiv

Time changes architecture and the environment slowly but surely, often almost unnoticeably to the unpracticed eye. Unfortunately, one will never see Kyiv the way it was described by the Illustrated Guide to Kyiv and its Suburbs, 1906: “Generally, visiting Kyiv for pleasure is best in spring, when the trees are in bloom, when the Dnipro is still deep, when grass in the parks and public gardens is still to be mowed as feed for the horses of the City Fire Brigade...”

Then came the stormy years of revolution. The Bolsheviks threw the capitalists out of their mansions. Now, decades later, these buildings are coveted by the noveaux riches wishing to live in the capital’s historic center, including the local Montmartre, Andriyivsky Uzviz. Here living space is sold at exorbitant prices. Not so long ago, the mansion at 22-B Andriyivsky Uzviz, known as the Museum of One Street, also became private property.

Founded seven years ago by the Maister Creative Union, it stored a unique display collected bit by bit and telling about every home, every resident of this famous street. There is a small cozy room with a low ceiling and wooden floor, used as an icon-painting studio at the turn of the century. It is softly lit by a floor lamp with a yellow shade. A Singer sewing machine, a Mephistopheles bronze figure, an opera hat, and a gramophone are silent witnesses to the past epoch.

The collection includes countless daguerreotypes: priests, merchants, scientists, painters, idyllic family scenes, fragile beauties, people destined to live on this street.

Of course, all Kyiv museums have a hard time making ends meet. The main reason is a chronic lack of funds without which expanding museum stocks is out of the question. And the number of veteran residents of the street dwindles inexorably. Seven years ago they rendered inestimable help in organizing the unique display, contributing many personal articles and documents.

Now that the mansion accommodating the museum is sold it will soon have an entirely different interior, after the European style repairs ordered by the newly settled bourgeoisie. The exposition is expected to be transferred to more spacious premises, recently occupied by a liquidated garment factory-school. The exposition will have to be rearranged, which will call for considerable expenditure.

The museum still functions, so take my advise and visit it. Touch the grated wall of the building where Mikhail Bulgakov lived and make a wish. Museum attendants believe it will be granted.

In the 1870s, Andriyivsky Uzviz mostly accommodated taverns, gambling places, and offices. In the first decade of this century the place was occupied by craftsmen’s and tailor’s shops catering to the laymen and clergy. The 1906 Illustrated Guide (now a literary rarity) reads: “Kyiv hills, the city’s pride and beauty, are perilous for horses, so hiring an ordinary buggy is both expensive and unsafe, especially if you want to be taken down one of the Uzviz-like streets.” Well, people riding their expensive limousines up and down Andriyivsky Uzviz on shopping sprees will have no such problems.
 


By Yuliya Volkhonovych, The Day
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