A museum boom in the “capital” of Western Ukraine

Fashion is almost an imperative. So whenever a self-respecting landowner in the 17th century set about building a Chinese palace in his castle, he was doing so by a decree of Her Majesty Fashion. After all, who wants to appear backward and unenlightened? Those who were unable to build a palace would set up at least a curiosity room or an eye-catching bridge. So in 1768 the owners of Zoloczewski (now Zolochiv) Castle named one of its exotic structures the Chinese Palace. Although the palace suffered damage many times during its existence, our contemporaries concluded that it was worth restoring this structure because there are no more than three palaces of this kind in all of Europe, and it is the only one of its kind on the territory of Ukraine. Restoration work is being carried out throughout Zolochiv Castle, one of the most shining examples of late 16th — early 17th-century fortification art. The neo-Dutch bastion-type defenses are still standing. Keeping in mind that Zolochiv Castle was used as a prison from 1870 until as late as 1954, you will understand what kind of destruction the castle suffered and how difficult it is to restore it. When the castle was a prison, there were baths and a laundry in the Chinese Palace and a chapel for inmates in the rotunda, the dome of which was crowned with a cross. This fact seems to suggest that the chapel was built by Jan III Sobieski in honor of a victory over the Austrians. Many researchers shared this view, and it was not until the castle was closed for restoration that the palace regained its original name.

Unfortunately, researchers have failed to find any documentary proof indicating when the Chinese Palace was constructed, nor has history preserved the name of its architect. The overdoor reliefs on the rotunda’s second story depict Janina, the Sobieskis’ family coat of arms, and the royal crown. It may therefore be assumed that the palace was built during the reign of Jan Sobieski, who also had the Oriental Park laid out around the palace.

It took fifteen years to restore the Chinese Palace during the difficult period of Ukraine’s fledgling statehood and financial squeeze, when affairs of culture were dismissed as unimportant. This is why the restoration work proceeded at a snail’s pace, and if sponsors had not intervened, the Chinese Palace would not have been ceremoniously reopened the other day. The Lviv Breweries donated 100,000 hryvnias, while Poland’s Lanckoronski Foundation provided funds for all the museum’s showcases. People’s Deputy Petro Pysarchuk donated about three million of his own hryvnias for central heating, the floors, the bridge, and other expenses. Regrettably, workers failed to meet the deadline of Museums Day (a holiday for museum employees in Ukraine — Ed.), and even on opening day they were still finishing the last step of the entrance stairs, while guests were waiting outside. This stems from the Soviet-era practice of doing “rush jobs” when everything, including allocation of money, would be done on the last day. Incidentally, it will take another 350,000 hryvnias to finish the restoration, and the restorers have still not received their wages. Lviv Art Gallery curator Mykhailo Voznytsky frankly admitted that the palace was in fact under restoration only in the last two months, so the museum employees, who had decided to establish an Oriental Culture branch of the Lviv Art Gallery in the palace, had to work practically around the clock.

Of course, this may raise the question: are there enough interesting Oriental artifacts in Lviv oblast? Initially, the gallery employees themselves had their doubts. Then they turned for help to Lviv’s other museums and, much to their surprise, began to receive gifts from ambassadors of Eastern states. For example, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs still has in its safekeeping a huge parcel from the Arabs for which the gallery paid 6,000 hryvnias to clear customs. Mr. Voznytsky does not even know what the parcel contains. He still hopes it is something valuable, like the present from the Indonesian ambassador, Ramayana and Mahabharata, a carved wood panel from Bali. Every visitor stares at the picture in open- mouthed delight, wondering how on earth the Ramayana could be carved in several layers. The ambassador of India also made a contribution to the museum’s exhibition. The Arabic gift is the latest.

However, it is not only Oriental art that the Chinese Palace is exhibiting today. It also shows the East’s influence on Ukraine and vice versa.

“We must not forget that we are on the border between East and West. So we thought it crucial to show several outstanding figures who made a contribution to the mutual penetration of cultures,” Mr. Voznytsky said. “We singled out five people: Roxolana; Mykhailo Boim whom Emperor Min sent to obtain help when the Manchus invaded China; Wenceslas Zewuski whom the Arabs considered an emir (he built schools and hospitals); Yury Kulchytsky who opened Europe’s first coffee house; and Vasyl Yaroshynsky, a blind, self-taught writer who knew twenty languages and spent several years in Japan, where he studied little known folklore. Incidentally, the life story of this extraordinary personality is really impressive. He came back to his homeland in the twilight of his life, but the Soviet authorities could offer him nothing better than a teaching post at a vocational school. Yaroshynsky willed his valuable archive to the Ukrainian Society for the Blind. When he died, these archives were loaded onto three trucks, carried to the woods, and burned. I think we will be able to expand this list.”

In general, 2004 is a surprisingly fruitful year for Lviv oblast museums. The picture gallery is planning to install an exhibition at the village of Ruda near Stryi, where the district administration has renovated a hospital building into the Ivan Vyhovsky Museum. Some sources say that Vyhovsky was buried in this very village, in the crypt of Elevation of the Cross Church. Finally confirmed as hetman by the Council of Korsun in 1657, Vyhovsky believed that Ukraine should not be subordinated to anyone but must live in peace with all its neighbors.

Another museum is being built in Briukhovychi, a few miles from Lviv, by eighty-year-old Mykhailo Dzyndra, who wants to exhibit his works there. He returned to Ukraine from Canada at quite an advanced age. For his move he rented a motor ship to carry approximately 1,000 sculptures that he wanted to donate to the state. But his attempts to find suitable premises failed, so Dzyndra had to start building a museum on his own. He sold a house in Canada, and Ukraine will now have the first museum of modern art in Briukhovychi. The opening is slated for Ukraine’s Independence Day.