On September 30, the Minister of Culture and Strategic Communications of Ukraine, Mykola Tochytskyi, met with the staff of the National Preserve “Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra” on the occasion of the 98th anniversary of the institution’s founding and the 100th anniversary of the Restoration Workshop at the Lavra Museum of Religious Cults and Everyday Life.
“Today, we must harness the powerful potential of the Lavra and its Restoration Workshop to ensure that everything previously forgotten or interpreted as russian or soviet is reclaimed by us. And you are successfully fulfilling this task,” said Mykola Tochytskyi.
For their high professionalism, years of dedicated work for the benefit of Ukrainian culture, and efforts aimed at preserving unique sites, the Minister awarded letters of appreciation to the staff of the Department of Scientific Restoration, Conservation, and Expertise of Movable Sights of the preserve, including Alona Krestinina, Olha Lisanovych, Nataliia Onopriienko, Olha Ryzhova, and Hanna Marchenko.
According to the General Director of the National Preserve “Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra,” Maksym Ostapenko, “Without the existence of the Preserve, we could have lost what is the heart of Ukrainian spirituality — our sacred site, our Lavra. However, the Preserve is not just a cultural institution. First and foremost, it is about the people. Those who dedicate their work, knowledge, and soul every day to preserving this unique place.”
Let us recall that the history of restoration at the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra began in 1924, when the first and, for a long time, the only professional workshop for the restoration of museum objects in Kyiv was established at the Lavra Museum of Religious Cults and Everyday Life. At that time, Lavra museum workers and restorers Mykola Kasperovych, Kost Krzheminskyi, Olena Bilska, and Davyd Trypilskyi laid the foundations of scientific museum restoration, which modern specialists continue to develop and improve in their work.