Visiting Taras

Crossing the threshold of the museum, you enter the so-called "glass" gallery, where the interior of a mid-19th-century burgher’s dwelling has been recreated.

The museum is housed in a residence built in 1835 by Kyiv official Ivan Zhytnytskyi in the historic Kozyne Boloto district. This one-story wooden building with a veranda and an attic, constructed according to a standard design, offers insight into the typical urban homes of Kyiv’s townspeople at the time. With some alterations, it has been preserved to this day.

Exhibition “Called to Preserve” tells the story of those who stood at the origins of one of Ukraine’s most important Shevchenko-related institutions — the Taras Shevchenko House-Museum in Kyiv, opened in 1928. It is dedicated to the individuals who preserved the memory of the Kobzar — not only through documents and artifacts, but also through their daily work, perseverance, and unwavering dedication to cultural heritage.

Through unique photographs, letters, documents, testimonies, and personal belongings, the exhibition reveals the human side of museum work. Each figure featured is a key to understanding not only the museum’s history, but also the powerful role of memory in shaping contemporary Ukraine.

After gaining his freedom from serfdom, Shevchenko returned to Ukraine for the first time. During this journey, he began working on his idea for a periodical publication titled Picturesque Ukraine, using the etching technique. It was intended to be a kind of artistic encyclopedia of Ukraine — portraying its landscapes, historical past, folk life, and traditions.

Landscapes of Old Kyiv were later used by Oleksandr Milovzorov in the creation of unique chandeliers for the Shevchenko House-Museum. Crafted in the classicist style, these chandeliers feature floral and botanical motifs. They harmoniously complement the museum’s interior, enhancing its classical aesthetic.

In 1840, the world saw the first edition of Kobzar by Taras Shevchenko, published by the private Fischer publishing house. The collection included eight poems. There are two known versions of the edition: one with 114 pages and another with 115, depending on the number of censor's edits.

The publication of this book marked the beginning of a new stage in the development of Ukrainian literature and language.

The exhibition features 19th-century tableware, including a kumanets, also known as a kvasnyk.

These ceramic vessels were often decorated with carvings or painted with scenes of battles or hunting, as well as images of people, animals, and buildings. Today, the making of kvasnyk is primarily decorative. Traditionally, they were used to store and serve fermented or fruit-based kvas at the table.

In the spring of 1845, Taras Shevchenko graduated from the Academy of Arts and, having received the title of non-class artist, returned to Ukraine. He traveled extensively, painted landscapes, met with historians, local researchers, and members of the Ukrainian nobility, all while gaining new impressions and inspirations.

From late April 1846 to April 5, 1847, the house of Ivan Zhytnytskyi in the Kozyne Boloto area — now home to the Taras Shevchenko House-Museum — became the poet's temporary residence. Sharing the space with him were poet and ethnographer Oleksandr Afanasiev-Chuzhbynskyi and artist Mykhailo Sazhyn. That year, spent in Kyiv, was filled with meaningful events and is often considered one of the happiest periods of Shevchenko’s life. The area, rich in history, with picturesque gardens and views of Kyiv’s golden church domes, provided a setting where Shevchenko lived and created in close connection with the city.

From the summer of 1845, Shevchenko began collaborating with the Kyiv Archaeographic Commission, an institution dedicated to researching and documenting historical monuments. As an artist for the Commission, he traveled across Ukraine, creating landscapes in watercolor and sepia that would later form the renowned 1845 album. Among these works is a depiction of Bohdan’s Church in Subotiv, which inspired him to write a poem of the same name.

This drawing, created by Shevchenko between April and October 1845, is featured in the room’s exhibition.

This room of the Taras Shevchenko House-Museum presents items that recreate the atmosphere of his life and creative work in Kyiv. Most notably, it features paintings by Taras Shevchenko and Mykhailo Sazhin, who together sketched Kyiv’s landscapes with the intention of compiling them into an album. On display are Shevchenko’s watercolors, including depictions of St. Alexander’s Catholic Church, the Church of All Saints at the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, and Askold’s Grave. These works were created during his travels around the outskirts of Kyiv as he searched for picturesque sites to capture.

Among the exhibits in the room is a harmonium belonging to the family of Ivan Zhytnytskyi, the owner of the house. This musical instrument was quite popular in the 19th century. Sound is produced by the vibration of metal reeds under the influence of an air stream, which is pumped by two foot-operated pedals.

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, harmoniums were common in churches, Catholic chapels of Halychyna, Zakarpattia, and Bukovyna, as well as in Lutheran churches and the homes of affluent Galician families.

This room tells the story of Shevchenko’s arrest. In February 1847, Oleksii Petrov, a student at St. Volodymyr University, submitted a denunciation revealing the existence of a secret political organization in Kyiv — the Cyril and Methodius Brotherhood. All members of the society were arrested.

Shevchenko recalled his arrest in the following words:
"I was walking in the evening, thinking I might be late for Kostomarov’s wedding — I had promised to be his groomsman. So I decided to head straight there. I shaved, put on a white cravat and a frock coat, and boarded the ferry to cross the Dnipro. Suddenly, I was grabbed and taken straight to Funduklei, the civil governor of Kyiv. He laughed when he saw me: ‘Well now, Taras Hryhorovych, traveling in a white cravat and frock coat?’ — ‘I'm a groomsman at Kostomarov’s wedding,’ I replied. ‘Well, the groom and his groomsman will be taken to the same place,’ joked Funduklei. ‘What a fine wedding,’ I thought."

This moment marked the beginning of Shevchenko’s exile and strict punishment, largely due to his revolutionary poetry and affiliation with the Brotherhood.

This room was home and workspace to Taras Shevchenko during 1846–1847. Here, he created, wrote poetry, set off on assignments from the Kyiv Archeographic Commission, and met with like-minded individuals — professors, students, and members of the Cyril and Methodius Brotherhood. It was in this very space that he penned the ballads “Lileya” and “Rusalka.”

The interior of the room recreates the atmosphere of a mid-19th-century Kyiv household: a tiled stove, a coffee grinder, a folk painting of Cossack Mamai, and a samovar. Conversations echoed here, new literature was read, coffee was brewed — and in this silence, under the light of candles, poetic lines were born. Every item on the desk is thoughtfully chosen: drafts of works, coins Shevchenko would give to beggars from the window, and an antique oil lamp. Not to be missed is the inkwell with two compartments — one for ink, the other for sand.

In the room’s interior, a coffee grinder rests on the side table, while a samovar stands near the sofa. Taras Shevchenko had enjoyed coffee since his student days at the Academy of Arts. Tea, however, gained his appreciation during his exile, where clean water was scarce. He also drank stronger beverages, often mentioned in his prose, and cherished the opportunity to enjoy them in the company of friends over meaningful conversation.

The walls of the room are adorned with landscapes of Old Kyiv and photographs of Taras Shevchenko, taken at the photo studio of Ivan Hudovsky — one of the first studios in Kyiv, located on Khreshchatyk Street.

During his travels across Ukraine, Shevchenko visited dozens of towns and villages. However, the exact number of places he visited has not been documented. It is known that Taras Hryhorovych traveled through the regions of Chernihiv, Kyiv, Poltava, Katerynoslav, and Cherkasy, visiting both large cities and small villages.

In the stairwell, on either side, there are two trunks. One of them is a travel trunk — an essential item for any 19th-century traveler. It features several compartments and a sturdy frame that helps it retain its shape during long journeys.

It was with such a trunk that Taras Shevchenko may have set out on his travels across Ukraine — journeys that played a crucial role in shaping him as both a poet and an artist.

He first returned to his homeland in 1843 after gaining his freedom from serfdom, then again after completing his studies at the Academy of Arts, and finally, after returning from exile. Each of these journeys left a profound imprint on his worldview and creative legacy.

In front of the workshop is a small room that recreates the interior of a 19th-century Kyiv burgher’s home. Here, one can see a samovar placed on a special table, a tray with cups, a carved chair, a clock resembling the one that stood in Shevchenko’s St. Petersburg studio, a wardrobe, a washstand with a copper basin and jug, a round mirror, and a woven towel used for drying hands.

In the attic of this house, Taras Shevchenko and Mykhailo Sazhyn set up their own art studio, where they worked on Kyiv landscapes and prepared for open-air painting sessions. The walls display watercolors and drawings by Shevchenko and Sazhyn, depicting views of Kyiv.

The room features a wooden bookcase designed after a sketch by Vasyl Krychevskyi, filled with 19th-century book editions. On display are books and periodicals that were read by Taras Shevchenko and his circle of friends.

For the Taras Shevchenko House-Museum, Ukrainian painter Kostiantyn Zaruba created a painting depicting the poet in one of the rooms of the Zhytnytskyi house, surrounded by friends. Particular attention is drawn to the figure of Mykhailo Sazhyn, who is shown with his back to the viewer — a deliberate artistic choice, as no life portraits of Sazhyn have survived.