One Street, Many Friends

On December 15 Kyiv’s Museum of One Street saw the meeting of representatives of the city’s intelligentsia, both old friends of this unique institution and those just beginning to discover the pleasures of museum communion. Among them were businessmen, programmers, philologists, collectors, actors, and diplomats. Not by accident December was chosen for the meeting, when the day of Saint Apostle Andrew is observed, the saint protector of Andriyivsky uzviz, the only street in the world having its own museum. Senior Adviser of the Russian Embassy to Ukraine Vsevolod Loskutov told The Day, “The Museum is doing a good job by restoring the forgotten and half-forgotten names of people who lived on this street, disclosing the history of not only Andriyivsky uzviz but Kyiv and even Ukraine through their fates. Some of the museum’s exhibits demonstrate the unity of our cultures, their complementary nature and interpenetration, opening new pages in history. These traditions must be preserved; this issue is especially relevant now, when we are conducting the Year of Ukraine in Russia. We want to broadly represent Ukraine’s achievements, giving Russians an opportunity to get to know your country and people better. There is no overly ideological approach to forming the exposition in the Museum of One Street. It tells about the people who lived in this street, people of different political views and political actions, which is also very important.”

Lawyer Inna Honcharova, arbitration official and director of the Department of Corporative Rights, remarked that the range of the museum’s friends includes people from various spheres of activity, united by their interest in its cultural legacy, drawing understanding of their destination in the modern world from our past.

It has been decided to make these meetings in Andriyivsky uzviz a tradition. “The connection between times should not be lost, otherwise we will build nobody knows what, and our society will collapse just like the Soviet one,” Leonid Rudenko, director general of the Elektrohazokhim scientific and industrial enterprise, one of the museum’s sponsors, said.