50th anniversary of work of the Hero of Ukraine

Lviv National Art Gallery is preparing the exhibition “The Era of Borys Voznytsky” de­di­cated to the 50th anniversary of work of the Hero of Ukraine Borys Voznytsky (1926-2012) as the di­rec­tor of the institution. The Day learned about it from the Oblast State Administration. The ex­hibition will feature paintings, drawings, sculpture, and de­co­ra­tive art objects brought from ex­pe­ditions organized by Voznytsky. We must note that in five decades of Voznytsky mana­ge­ment the mu­seum has grown not only in terms of quantity, but also in terms of quality. Voznytsky became the director of the art gallery in 1962.

At that time the gallery had about 10,000 artifacts and one room on the 3 Stefanyka Street. Over the years of his work the funds grew six time larger and there were 15 new sec­tions opened with over 20 objects. In the 1960s and the 1970s Voz­ny­ts­ky initiated hundreds of ex­pe­di­tions to the Western regions of Uk­raine, as a result 12,000 items were rescued, including icons, sculptures, old books, and antique furniture. It was Voz­nytsky’s idea to create new branches of the gallery, which were placed in abandoned or rebuilt and renovated architectural monu­ments. There­fore, thanks to the incredible perseverance for achie­ving his goals, combined with fran­tic hard-working nature, Borys Voznytsky, Hero of Uk­raine, aca­de­mician, winner of Taras Shev­chenko Natio­nal Prize, president of the Uk­­rainian Na­tio­nal Committee of the In­ter­na­tio­nal Council of Mu­seums (ICOM) brought Lviv Art Gal­lery in the rank of super-power museum complex with a collection of over 60,000 artifacts. The exhi­bi­tion “The Era of Borys Voznytsky” will open on December 20.