Pereiaslav-Khmelnytskyi: Church versus museum, or the anarchy continues
16.11.2007, [11:08] // Kaleidoscope //
RISU’s Ukrainian-language site posted the story on 13 November 2007.
Many churches of Pereiaslav-Khmelnytskyi are museums today. The Orthodox claim some of them, however only renovated ones that are in good condition. But they contain collections of invaluable exhibits, treasures of the Ukrainian culture which can find themselves in the open air and covered with snow as a result. In their report from the scene, Viacheslav and Natalia NESTEROV pose a few questions, particularly, why is a church which calls itself Ukrainian indifferent to the fate of the Ukrainian heritage?
On 8 November, Ukraine saw the consequences of the siege of St. Catherine’s Church in [northern Ukrainian] Chernihiv by the faithful of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate [UOC-MP]. Everyone who is not indifferent to the Ukrainian culture was horrified with what they saw. The Chernihiv Historical Museum is going to sue the Chernihiv Eparchy of the UOC-MP for damages. The picketers of the UOC[-MP] have already stated that they do not recognize their guilt and insist on the right of the [Russian Orthodox Church] ROC/UOC-MP to own the church building. A similar situation continues in Pereiaslav-Khmelnytskyi in the Kyiv Region, as well. If the courts and the state continue to turn a blind eye to the aggressiveness of the “church privatizers,” 15,000 unique exhibits of the Ukrainian material culture will perish in the near future.
[RISU note: “According to conservative estimates, St. Catherine’s Church, a monument of national architectural heritage which dates back to the 18th century, suffered one million hryvnias in damages (appr.$125, 000),” said Yurii Sobol, director of the national historical preservation association, Ancient Chernihiv. Faithful of the UOC-MP started picketing the building about a year and a half ago, and only recently did the Chernihiv governor decide to remove the museum exhibits from the locked building.]
The siege of the Pereiaslav museum continues
A monument of national significance, the complex of the Church of St. Michael the Archangel in Pereiaslav-Khmelnytskyi has been besieged by faithful of the UOC-MP for four months now.
The church and bell-tower were built by the Pereiaslav regiment and its colonel, Fedor Loboda, during the War for Liberation (1648-1654) on the foundations of the ancient St. Michael’s Cathedral, built in 1089 at the initiative of Bishop Yefrem of Pereiaslav, the foundations of which were discovered during archeological work. In terms of typology, there are no analogues to the complex in Ukrainian culture. Unique ceramic high relief rosaces with plant-like ornamentation have been preserved in the baroque decor of St. Michael’s Church.
There are two museums in the complex: the Museum of Folk Cloths of the Middle Dnipro Area and the Museum of Architecture of Pereiaslav of the Time of Kyivan Rus. In glass cabinets in St. Michael’s Church, examples of folk creative works are exhibited: national costumes worn in various regions of Ukraine. The museum has a collection of wedding dresses of past centuries, including outfits of the bride and groom and members of the wedding party; about 700 women’s embroidered shirts, skirts, tanned sheepskin coats – 15,000 exhibits in total. Clothes of petty bourgeois and intelligentsia of the 19th and 20th centuries are also exhibited.
The Museum of Architecture is the result of archeological excavations on the territory of the complex in 1974-1975. Its area is 200 square meters. The exposition includes models, graphic reconstruction of architectural monuments, and, most importantly, the foundations of St. Michael’s Cathedral of the 11th century, conserved and protected from bad weather conditions.
On 3 November, we saw the following picture in the museum. The entrance gates were opened. The courtyard of the complex between the church and the bell-tower was occupied by a Ministry of Emergency Situations (MES) tent with a chimney pipe on the roof. Next to the tent, a woman was washing dishes, splashing water on the stones of the foundation of the 11th century. When she saw the cameras, she hurried into the tent and closed the curtain. In a minute, prayerful singing was heard. All the buildings on the territory of the museum were closed: only two local workers from Pereiaslav were painting the roof of the gallery, which protects the foundations of St. Michael’s Cathedral. They told us that the power supply of the museum is cut off. There were no representatives of the MES or security on the territory of the museum or near it.
There is a functioning Cathedral of the Holy Dormition of the UOC-MP on the Square of Reunification 200 meters from the complex of the Church of St. Michael the Archangel. It was built in 1896 on the site of a church of the same name in which [17th-century Ukrainian leader] Bohdan Khmelnytskyi and the elders swore allegiance to the tsar of Moscow. It is a bright church with old icons that have seen many prayers. Holes from bullets and fragments in the external walls remind one of the fierce fighting during World War II. Mosaic icons which were ruined during the war are being renewed now. One of them, the icon of the Apostles Peter and Paul, is all ready. Everything is done quietly, without unnecessary hustle and pomp. Women in the church talk with us in a friendly way and tell us about their church. But after our question about the picketing of St. Michael’s Church, their attitude changes drastically and the conversation stops. Whereas the attitude to the picket of all the people of Pereiaslav with whom we spoke during the day is negative.
What will happen?
Representatives of the museum of architecture and the middle Dnipro museum told us that representatives of the UOC-MP have expressed their desire to take away from the museum the so-called “Andrushi Church.” It is the Church of St. George from the village of Andrushi of the Pereiaslav area, which was built in 1768. In the 1830s, a bell-tower was attached to it. In 1845, [reknowned Ukrainian poet and painter] Taras Shevchenko depicted the church in his drawing “Willows in Andrushi.” The church is decorated with cross-rosaces along the frieze of the whole building and on gables.
The majestic church is in a very good condition now. Its original iconostasis was taken away to [Russia’s] Hermitage [Museum] and so the museum found a similar carved wooden iconostasis from the 19th century. In addition to a rich collection of old icons, there are a carved wooden pulpit and a collection of wooden and metal crosses.
At the same time, in Pereiaslav there are museum-churches with exhibits created in Soviet times which provoke terrible feelings from any visitors.
There is the Museum of the Recognition of the World and the Peaceful Assimilation of the Cosmos in the wooden Church of St. Paraskeva in the Pereiaslav open air museum. The altar contains a bust of [Soviet rocket scientist Sergei] Korolev and a rocket in the place of the pulpit.
There is a museum of the Battle for the Dnipro in the Cathedral of the Ascension, which dominates Pereiaslav. The altar contains a 70-meter diorama “Battle for the Dnipro, 1943.” The pulpit has been replaced by a large brick platform with an obelisk with a red pentagram on top of it. It is all crowned with an Orthodox cross on the dome of the cathedral, which was built by Hetman [Ivan] Mazepa. The scene shocks not only us.
The museum workers explain that they themselves would like to move to a specialized building, as it is simply scary to look after the war exposition in the cathedral. But the construction of a large museum which was to gather all those separate Pereiaslav museums under its roof has been waiting unfinished in the Square of Reunification for more than 20 years now. In the beginning, underground water was the obstacle, then the collapse of the “Great [Soviet] Union,” and now the banal lack of funds.
The “new old-building” is neglected, whereas museums are placed in churches. And the churches in good condition become “tasty bites” for church “privatizers.” We do not see in this any care for the revival of the churches but only a desire for property.
Why does the UOC-MP need two churches 200 meters from each other?
Why do they claim the recently-repaired St. Michael’s Church and not the tremendous and spacious Cathedral of the Ascension, which needs very serious repair?
Why are they not worried about the museum of the cosmos in the church, but want precisely the Andrushi Church, which is repaired and well-kept?
Why is a church which calls itself Ukrainian [the UOC-MP] indifferent to the fate of the Ukrainian heritage?
Indeed, why spend money if one can simply seize property? Evict the museum workers out into the street and the weak state tolerates everything. And, besides, the state, formally, should not interfere in church matters. However, the fact is that the Moscow church interferes in the affairs of our state all the time.
See Ukrainian page for various photos; also see text of previous English-language news:
• http://www.risu.org.ua/ukr/news/reportage/article;18950/
• http://www.risu.org.ua/eng/news/article;18996/
• http://www.risu.org.ua/eng/news/article;18994/
