New Exhibition Unveils the History of Babyn Yar
Visitors can explore rare archival materials, author sketches, photographs, and texts, as well as the restored model of the memorial.
The 'Living Memory' exhibition center of the National Historical and Memorial Reserve 'Babyn Yar' has launched a new documentary exhibition project titled 'When the World Crumbles'. The exposition reveals lesser-known facts about the creation of the memorial for the Babyn Yar tragedy. This was reported by the Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications of Ukraine.
This exhibition is dedicated to the work of Ukrainian artists Ada Ryabchuk and Volodymyr Melnychenko, who presented their concept of the memorial at an architectural competition in 1965. Visitors can view unique archival documents, author sketches, photographs, and texts, as well as a restored model of the memorial, preserved in the Fund for Cultural Heritage of ARVM.
The exhibition curators are Maria Mizina, Anastasia Paseka, and Mykhailo Alekseenko.
During the opening, the director of the reserve, Roza Tapanova, emphasized: 'Returning to our own past and dismantling myths created by the Soviet regime about the Holocaust is one of the strategic directions of our work. The 1965 competition gave hope to the community to honor the victims, but Soviet censorship merely simulated dialogue, which was ultimately halted.'
Joining the event was Deputy Minister of Culture and Strategic Communications of Ukraine, Serhiy Belyaev, who stressed the importance of restoring historical truth. He highlighted that the Soviet regime deliberately suppressed facts and rewrote history, and this exhibition is part of the process of memory restoration.
The curatorial team shared details about their work on the exhibition, discussing research on archival materials and the concept of the exposition.
The exhibition will be open until July 31. Admission is free.
Address: 'Living Memory' Exhibition Center, Yuri Illienko St., 46A
Opening hours: Mon–Fri: 10:00–19:00, Sat–Sun: 11:00–19:00
Moreover, Ada Ryabchuk and Volodymyr Melnychenko spent 13 years working on the Wall of Memory at Baikove Cemetery. Sadly, the Soviet regime buried the reliefs under a layer of concrete, declaring them 'incompatible with the principles of socialist realism'. In 2021, fragments began to be uncovered from under the concrete.
