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main >> kiev museums >> National art museum of ukraine

Address: Grushevsky's street, b. 6

Tel.: +38 044 228-64-29, +38 044 228-74-54

Working hours: Wednesday, Thursday from 10:00 till 18:00, Friday from 12:00 till 20:00, Saturday, Sunday from 11:00 till 17:00. Days off: Monday, Tuesday

How to get: or go to metro station Maydan Nezalezhnosti, pass Kreschatik to European square, turn to Grushevsky's street

National art museum of ukraine

National Art Museum of Ukraine is located in Kiev downtown, in the building constructed by architect G.Boytsov with the assistance of architect V.Gorodetsky, the founder of House with Chimeras on Bankovaya street. The museum was opened in 1899 by historian Nikolay Bilyashevsky and his assistants – critics Daniel Shcherbakovsky and Feodor Ernst. At first the museum was named City Museum of Antiques and Arts.

At that time there was completely no concept of Ukrainian professional visual arts, therefore the museum founders set the situation change as an object. Collection of National Art Museum of Ukraine was composed not only on principle of painters’ national identity. It was decided to collect works of the masters, who were born and creating in Ukraine, those who lived outside motherland, and foreign artists, who sojourned for some time in Ukraine and endowed influentially Ukrainian painting. Search-and-collective work was expanded not only across Ukraine, but worldwide also.

As a result, National Art Museum of Ukraine was enriched with Repin, Shevchenko, Borovikovsky, Tropinin, Vrubel, Pimonenko, Ge, Narbuta, Murashko and Krichevsky canvas. Old medieval icons, portraits of Cossack leaders and religious enlighteners came into collection.

In Stalin repression period active work on museum development was suspended. Many valuable exhibits were deconsecrated among special depositories. In the early nineties of 20 century the museum reached the world level standards. National Art Museum of Ukraine works were exhibited at many known museums of the USA, Canada, France, where aroused a great interest in professionals and fans of art.

Last decade was marked by appearance of polichrom icon-relief Sacred George II in life (12 century) in the collection. This icon was found by Kiev scientist G.Logvin in early 60 of the last century and was named a gift to all world science. Works of graphic artist J.Gnizdovsky, icon of Great Martyr (18 century), performed in a manner of Ukrainian rococo, canvas of the abstractionism founder K.Malevich, ethnic Ukrainian, can be also rank among important gains.