The museum was opened on May 29, 1999, in a Kyiv estate with a long history. The directors Volodymyr Tykhenko and Oksana Pidsukha played an essential role in establishing the institution. Anna Leksina has been leading the museum since 2024.
About museum
The Museum of Ukrainian Diaspora presents the history and cultural heritage of Ukrainians worldwide, from the first immigrants of the late nineteenth century to the representatives of the third wave of emigration who were forced to leave their homeland during World War II and their descendants.
History
Until 2015, it operated as the Museum of Cultural Heritage (then a department of the Museum of the History of the City of Kyiv). In 2015, on the initiative of Director Oksana Pidsukha and the research team, the institution was renamed the Museum of Ukrainian Diaspora (a branch of the Museum of the History of the City of Kyiv).
Mission
Its mission is to preserve, research, and popularize the history and cultural heritage of immigrants from Ukraine as a vital component of national history and culture. The fundamental goal of the institution is to learn history of emigration from Ukraine, disseminate knowledge about prominent Ukrainians around the world and the activities of Ukrainian institutions abroad, highlight their role in the struggle for Ukraine's independence, preservation of Ukrainian traditions and development of national culture, as well as in creating a positive image of Ukraine abroad.
Parts of the Museum of Ukrainian Diaspora exhibition. Kyiv. 2021. Photo by Yevhen Gensiurovsky / Museum of Ukrainian Diaspora
Museum collection
The base of the Museum of the Ukrainian Diaspora, which is part of the general collection of the Museum of the History of the City of Kyiv, is a collection of works by Ukrainian artists worldwide, transferred by the National Commission for the Return of Cultural Property to Ukraine (operated from 1992 to 1999, headed by O. Fedoruk). As a result of this commission’s activities, the museum’s collections included, among others, the collections of prominent Ukrainian American artists Liudmyla Morozova and Oleksa Bulavytsky, a group of works by Ukrainian Australian artists, masterpieces of the Krychevsky dynasty, and others.
A new stage of collection development began in 2015. Active establishment of direct contacts between the museum and Ukrainian institutions abroad and individual diaspora representatives significantly increased the museum’s collection. Over the past eight years, the museum has acquired works by Emma Andijewska (USA-Germany), Anatole Kolomayets (USA), representatives of the Kozak artistic dynasty (USA), and Olena Ovchynnikova (USA). The collaboration with the artist Kateryna Krychevska-Rosandich resulted in a significant addition to the collection of works by representatives of the Krychevsky dynasty. The collections were also enriched with rare historical documents of the first Ukrainian mutual benefit societies and credit unions of the early twentieth century (USA), archival materials, and photographs of the last President of the Ukrainian People’s Republic in exile, Mykola Plavyuk (Canada), personal belongings of the hero of the Russian-Ukrainian war Markiyan Paslawsky (USA), and a sports collection from the diaspora.
The collection of the Museum of Ukrainian Diaspora consists of approximately 20,000 exhibits
New exposition
On May 29, 2021, the Museum of Ukrainian Diaspora opened a new exposition that reveals more than a century of life of Ukrainians around the world. The exposition focuses on key episodes of emigration from Ukraine, the fates of individual diaspora members, outstanding examples of the cultural heritage of Ukrainians around the world, and the activities of some Ukrainian institutions abroad. The stories about them provide insight into the history and cultural heritage of the Ukrainian global community.
Project manager and chief curator: Oksana Pidsukha
Curatorial team: Anna Leksina, Nazar Rozlutsky and Volodymyr Taran
Among the historical rarities presented in the exhibition are the personal belongings of Hetman Pavlo and his son Danylo Skoropadsky, memorabilia from the DP camps, and documents of the last President of the Ukrainian People's Republic in exile, Mykola Plavyuk. The artistic heritage of Ukrainians around the world is represented, in particular, by works of the Krychevsky dynasty, Liudmyla Morozova, Anatole Kolomayets, and the first audio recordings of the Ukrainian Republic Capella by Oleksandr Koshyts.
Parts of the Museum of Ukrainian Diaspora exhibition. Kyiv. 2021. Photo by Yevhen Gensiurovsky / Museum of Ukrainian Diaspora
The curatorial team next to the museum's new exposition. From left to right: Volodymyr Taran (designer), Oksana Pidsukha, Anna Leksina, and Nazar Rozlutsky. Museum of Ukrainian Diaspora. 2021. Photo by Yevhen Gensiurovsky / Museum of Ukrainian Diaspora
Museum of Ukrainian Diaspora. Top view. 2016
Selected exhibition and publishing projects
In 2017, the Museum of Ukrainian Diaspora presented the exhibition project "Artists-Ambassadors. Ukrainian Australiana" on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Australia and Ukraine, as well as the 70th anniversary of Ukrainians' settlement in Australia.
Curated by Anna Leksina
For the first time in Ukraine, more than 60 paintings and drawings by six Ukrainian-Australian artists, representatives of the third wave of emigration ─ Volodymyr Savchak, Tymofii Messak, Petro Kravchenko, Stepan Khvylia, Leonid Denysenko, and contemporary Australian and Ukrainian artist Svitlana Soldatova ─ were exhibited. There were exhibited works from the Museum of Ukrainian Diaspora and the Berezhany Local History Museum collections. The Museum of Ukrainian Diaspora and the Publishing House “Antykvar” prepared a special magazine edition dedicated to Ukrainian Australia as part of the project.
During the exhibition "Artists-Ambassadors. Ukrainian Australiana" opening, James Nation (Chargé d'Affaires of the Australian Embassy in Ukraine) makes a speech. Museum of Ukrainian Diaspora. June 21, 2017. Photo by Oleh Hrytsenko
At the opening of the exhibition project "Artists-Ambassadors. Ukrainian Australiana". Museum of Ukrainian Diaspora. June 21, 2017. Photo by Oleh Hrytsenko
In 2019, the Museum of Ukrainian Diaspora hosted the opening of the historical project "New York ─ Ilovaisk: A Choice" dedicated to Markiyan Paslawsky, an American Ukrainian, a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy West Point, a participant in the Orange Revolution and the Revolution of Dignity, and a military volunteer in the Russian-Ukrainian war who died in 2014 near Ilovaisk. The project was organized jointly with the National Museum of the Revolution of Dignity. The exhibition featured artifacts from the collections of both museums that revealed the worldview and life story of the hero, as well as the publication "Call to Action: The Words of Markiyan Paslawsky."
The project was curated by Nazar Rozlutsky and Oleksandr Bryndikov
Opening of the exhibition project "New York ─ Ilovaisk. A Choice". Museum of Ukrainian Diaspora. August 18, 2019. Photo by Bohdan Poshyvaylo / National Museum of the Revolution of Dignity
Opening of the exhibition project "New York ─ Ilovaisk. A Choice". Museum of Ukrainian Diaspora. August 18, 2019. Photo by Bohdan Poshyvaylo / National Museum of the Revolution of Dignity
Opening of the exhibition project "New York ─ Ilovaisk. A Choice". Museum of Ukrainian Diaspora. August 18, 2019. Photo by Bohdan Poshyvaylo / National Museum of the Revolution of Dignity
In 2021, the Museum collaborated with the International Charitable Fund of Ukrainians worldwide "Diaspora" and received support from the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation for a research inter-museum exhibition project honoring the 95th anniversary of Kateryna Krychevska-Rosandich, a renowned artist and philanthropist from the USA. The project was titled "Kateryna Krychevska-Rosandich. Дороги. Straßen. Roads".
Curated by Oksana Pidsukha
Curatorial team: Anna Leksina and Oleksandr Kukhar
The exhibition presented a broad retrospective of the artist's life and work, artistic heritage, and archival materials from several museums and private collections in offline, online, and multimedia formats. Offline exhibitions at the Museum of Ukrainian Diaspora and the National Museum "Kyiv Art Gallery," an online display on the Facebook page of the Museum of Ukrainian Diaspora, multimedia exhibitions in four museums in Ukraine, and the first scientific and artistic publication about the artist reached a broad international audience, revealed little-known pages of twentieth-century history, and paid tribute to Kateryna as an artist and patron.
Oksana Pidsukha and Anna Leksina present the publication “Kateryna Krychevska-Rosandich. Дороги. Straßen. Roads" at the National Museum "Kyiv Art Gallery.” October 12, 2021. Photo by Yevhen Gensiurovsky / Museum of Ukrainian Diaspora
Oksana Pidsukha and Anna Leksina present the publication “Kateryna Krychevska-Rosandich. Дороги. Straßen. Roads" at the National Museum "Kyiv Art Gallery.” October 12, 2021. Photo by Yevhen Gensiurovsky / Museum of Ukrainian Diaspora
At the exhibition "Roads and People" (“Kateryna Krychevska-Rosandich. Дороги. Straßen. Roads” project). Museum of Ukrainian Diaspora. July 29, 2021. Photo by Yevhen Gensiurovsky / Museum of Ukrainian Diaspora