Sivershchyna Travel Guide

address: 6, Gorky str., Chernihiv, 14006, Ukraine tel.: +38 0462 64-70-06 Guide ordering: +38 0462 77-46-16 Cost of guide services: 20 UAH per group www: halahan-art.com E-mail: artmuseum1@mail.ru

open hours: daily except Monday from 09:00 till 17:00 avaliable excursions in foreign languages: entrance fee: 4 UAH for adults; 3 UAH for students; 2 UAH for children

Chernihiv Regional Art Museum is one of the youngest in the Ukraine. It opened its doors to visitors in 1984.

The basis of the museum’s collection, his pride and ornament has composed the collection of the Galagans family which consisted of works of West European, Ukrainian and Russian art of the XVII – the beginning of the XX centuries, folk paintings and in particular the famous Cossacks Mamais, the portraits of eight generations of this famous Cossack and sergeant major kin and their famous relatives – the Razumovskies, the Daragans, the Markeviches and Lamsdorfs, which numbered about 100 works.

To date, the main museum funds comprise almost 8,5 thousand pieces of fine and decorative art starting from the XVI century. A special place in the museum’s exposition is alloted for icon-painting works, mostly Ukrainian, among which there are the canonical “Archangel Michael”, a collection of Deiparous icons and peculiar folk icons which originally interpret the image of the patron saint.

The collection of works by well-known Ukrainian and Russian academic artists is quite significant. Among them is “Girls are foretelling their marriage with the help of garlands” by I.Sokolov, “Gothic bridge in Sokyryntsi park” by A. Voloskov,” Autumn plowing in Malorossia” by M. Klodt, “Storm on the Sea” by I. Aivazovsky and many others.

Section of Western European art is rather small but arousing strong interest. The works of the Italian school of the XVIII century is represented whith the picture “Raising of Cupid by Venus and Mercury” by Jacob Ross and ” The Coronation ” by Michele Schiavone. Dutch and Flemish painting is represented with the works of genre art and battle-scene painting such as “The military camp” by Bloom P. Van Standard, “In the Tavern” F. Shveer and the variety of still life paintings and canvases on mythological and evangelic items. The real decoration of the section are works of Dutch and Flemish masters of XVII-XVIII centuries: “Concert” by Hendrick Jansz ter Brugghen , dated 1626, “Still life with strawberries” Theodore Caspar Smits, as well as the works of unknown artists.
French Art of XVIII – XIX centuries is represented with the names of such famous painters as G. Robert ( “The ruins of old castle”), E. Meissonier (“Admirer of pictures”), J. Trezer, E. Falconet, Francois Granet.

Considerable interest arouse bronze ebbs from the works of the greatest masters of French sculpture of XVIII-XIX centuries such as Felix Lecomte ( “Marie Antoinette”), Gustave Doré (“Madonna with Child “), Francois Pomponius (“Cosette”), as well as animalistic sculpture by Pierre Jules Mena.

Unique in the museum collection are paintings by German artists. Among them is the only painting in the Ukraine that represents the Romantic movement in German painting of the first half of the XIX century – “Anne Boleyn behind bars” by Carl Vogel.
The influence of German Romantic painting is traced in some works of the Austrian portrait painter Henry Golpayna ( “Portrait of Maria Komarovskaya”). Classic landscape “Bay of Naples” by Johann Rauch introduces the interesting attempts of this landscape and animal painter to master the secrets of plein air painting.

The bigger part of the museum’s collection includes works by Ukrainian coryphaeuses of the XX century – M. Zhuk, M. Samokish, S.Shishko, V. Kostetski, N.Glushchenko, S.Grigoryev, M. Deregus, T. Yablonska, A. Kotzki and many other representatives of socialist realism.
Considerable part of the collection represent the works of decorative art of Ukraine, created by professional artists, as well as original masters for nearly two centuries. Applique, embroidery and painting, glass and porcelain, ceramic and wood are represented by such well-known names as Saenko, M. Timchenko, M. Primachenko, I. Appolonov, G.A. Denysenko, A. Shtepa and many other famous masters.

The collection of traditional folk toys from Ukraine, Russia and Belarus is very distinctive and amounts about 350 pieces of wood, clay, straw, and dough.
The museum is located in a former girls’ high school on the Val (Rampart) next to Chernihiv Historical Museum named after V. Tarnovsky.