News of the Museum of Books and Printing of Ukraine

From our Australian correspondent Jürgen Wegner. First published in The Shadowland Newsletter n° 166, (Музей книги і друкарства України)November 2024.

Музей книги і друкарства України

An email brought to my attention an important book and printing museum located in Київ in the Ukraine—the Музей книги і друкарства України (Ukr., Muzeĭ knigi i drukarstva Ukraïni or the Museum of Books and Printing of Ukraine). The region has been in the news for all the worst reasons and we forget the long and rich heritage of books and printing that the Cyrillic countries of this region have. The Музей книги і друкарства України was officially opened in 1975. It was then called the Державний музей книги і друкарства УРСР (Ukr., Derzhavniĭ muzeĭ knigi i drukarstva URSR or the State Museum of Books and Printing of the Ukrainian SSR) but its origins go back almost a hundred years. To 1926 when the famous bibliographer Pavlo Popov drafted an Outline of the Project of the Museum of Book and Printing of Ukraine.

I was expecting the museum’s activities to be much affected by current events and yet they seem to be stoically carrying on with a full programme of cultural exhibitions and activities. They have a very professional website which is well worth exploring (see below for details)—no Ukrainian required!—though there is a bit of übertechnology for you to navigate if you want to do the virtual online tour of the museum. There are videoclips to watch—anything from Feminism in Ukrainian literature to a calligraphy master class.

As well as details of the international conference that took place on the 8 November 2024, the XV Міжнародна науково-практична конференція Lucem Dabit Atra Fuligo / Чорна Сажа Дає Світло (Ukr., XV Mizhnarodna naukovo-praktichna konferentsiia Lucem Dabit Atra Fuligo / Chorna Sazha Dae Svitlo or XV International Scientific and Practical Conference Lucem Dabit Atra Fuligo / Black Soot Gives Light). An inspired conference name referencing both the soot of the ink as well as printing, the bringer of knowledge (light). Inspired when you see the troubles we have in the wider world these day.

An overview of the conference papers:

  • Ukrainian identity and war : challenges for museum affairs
  • Problems of preservation and advocacy of historical and cultural heritage in the
    face of modern threats
  • Postcolonial studies and the creation of new museum exhibitions
  • Postcolonialism and intercultural relations : reappropriation or shared cultural
    heritage
  • Demythologization of history and myth-making in Ukrainian bookishness
  • Ukrainian printing as a means of information warfare
  • History and art of the manuscript book
  • Ukrainian printing houses and early printed books of the XVI–XVIII centuries
    • Publishing in Ukraine and in the centers of Ukrainian emigration of the XX-XXI
    centuries
  • Ukrainian Language in written and printed monuments
  • Book graphics and book design
  • The state and prospects of digitization of museum collections of manuscripts and
    old prints
  • Museum practices and post-traumatic syndrome
  • Methods of art therapy and psychotherapy in museum business
  • International activity of Ukrainian Museum
  • Awkward questions : museum funding

Sources, further reading, webliography