The Role of Scientists in the Establishment and Development of Museums in Kyiv (XIX – Early XX Centuries)

Abstract

The article examines the contribution of Ukrainian scientists to the development of museum affairs in Kyiv during the “long” 19th century. Ukrainian museum work during the imperial period developed in the absence of its own state, with prohibitions on the Ukrainian movement and the Ukrainian language in the Russian Empire. In such conditions, a huge contribution to the development of museum work was made by scientists, professors of educational institutions, employees of scientific institutions, and researchers of the history and culture of Ukraine. On the one hand, Ukrainian scientists were among the initiators of the establishment of museum institutions, provided exhibits for museum collections. On the other hand, museum institutions themselves, preserving a large number of exhibits on Ukrainian history and culture, provided scientists with the opportunity to conduct scientific research. Museums played an important role in popularizing the achievements of Ukrainian and world historical and cultural heritage, contributing to the formation of national identity and the identity of the Ukrainian people.

The purpose of this article is to study the role of Ukrainian scientists in the formation and development of museum work in Ukraine in the 19th and early 20th centuries, using the example of scientists whose scientific and organizational activities were associated with the city of Kyiv. The article analyses the scientific and organisational activities related to the museum work of such prominent scientists as Volodymyr Antonovych, Vasyl Danylevych, Vikentiy Khvoyka, and Mykola Biliashivsky. It is noted, using specific examples, that the effectiveness of museum institutions was largely, often decisively, determined by the active participation of scientists associated with them. It was they who contributed to the establishment of museum institutions, the replenishment of collections, the involvement of museum materials in scientific research, and the formation of the historiographical tradition of Ukrainian museum work. The study proves that studying the history of museology through a biographical approach deepens the understanding of the trends in the history of Ukrainian museology in the 19th and early 20th centuries. A look at museology through the prism of biographical studies and the history of science opens up opportunities for a deeper understanding and conceptualization of the history of museology in Ukraine.