Museum in Boxes

An unusual museum where visitors were allowed to try on some clothes their ancestors once wore and eat from their plates was established in Vinnytsia. There you could also test yourself as a folk master: weave something out of withe, make a clay sculpture or a paper cut, paint a pysanka egg, etc. The museum made a big success and had around 1,000 visitors a year. However, this spring marked a year since anybody last saw its exhibits.

The Museum of Folk Arts and Everyday Life of Podillia is thirteen years old. In this period it has obtained the title of People’s Museum and has been included in the register of museums with the Cabinet of Ministers. It was created by enthusiastic teachers at one Vinnytsia kindergarten. However, since a kindergarten is an institution closed to outsiders, a decision was made to move the museum from its current location. The city’s educational administration to which the museum is subordinate suggested its director Liudmyla Filinska the best it could: several premises in school buildings. She refused. Ms. Filinska says that in this case her unusual museum would be restrained to only one educational institution, while she wants it to be available to all. However, the museum does not have enough money to survive on its own, and thus at present its nearly 1000 exhibits are not accessible to anyone. Ms. Filinska collected most of them in nearby villages, while others were presented by collectors. The displays are original and quite valuable; some of them are 100-150 years old. Thus, when the turmoil began concerning the museum, the director packed everything into boxes and took it out of the kindergarten. During the last year Ms. Filinska has occasionally visited her treasure and found out that, while the discussion lasts, some mice and moths are dwelling in it.