Ukrainian Center for Folk Culture «Ivan Honchar's Museum»

Ukrainian Center for Folk Culture «Ivan Honchar's Museum» [Український центр народної культури «Музей Івана Гончара»; Ukrainskyi tsentr narodnoi kultury «Muzei Ivana Honchara»]. Established in 1993 on the basis of Ivan Honchar’s private collection of Ukrainian ethnographic artefacts, the Ivan Honchar Museum is a state museum and research center specializing in Ukrainian ethnography. Its collection consists of over 15,000 items, of which over 2,700 items of woven and embroidered fabrics (rushnyky, folk costumes, kilims, etc.), over 700 ceramics, a large collection of Easter eggs, wood carvings, metal and glass artefacts, folk musical instruments, and others. Particularly important is the museum’s collection of folk painting, including numerous depictions of Kozak-Mamai and over 500 folk icons. The center also houses I. Honchar’s private book library, containing close to 3,000 books. Apart from organizing museum exhibits, the center organizes ethnographic research, field expeditions, and scholarly conferences.

[This article was written in 2010.]