The current Pysanka Museum building was built in 2000 in the western Ukrainian city of

Kolomyia Kolomyia, formerly known as Kolomea ( ua, Коломия, Kolomyja, ; pl, Kołomyja; german: Kolomea; ro, Colomeea; yi, ), is a city located on the Prut River in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast (province), in western Ukraine. It serves as the admi ...

, Ivano-Frankivska Oblast. Previously the pysanka collection had been housed in the Kolomyia church of the Annunciation. The museum is part of the

National Museum of Hutsulshchyna and Pokuttya Folk Art The Yosafat Kobrynskyi National Museum of Hutsulshchyna and Pokuttia Folk Art () is a museum in Kolomyia, Ukraine with a collection of more than 50,000 objects documenting the history and folk culture of Hutsulshchyna and Pokuttia regions. Histo ...

. The central part of the museum is in the shape of a

pysanka The tradition of egg decoration in Slavic cultures originated in pagan times,Kazimierz Moszyński – Kultura ludowa Słowian, Kraków 1929Anna Zadrożyńska – Powtarzać czas początku, Warsaw 1985, and was transformed by the process of r ...

(Ukrainian

Easter egg Easter eggs, also called Paschal eggs, are eggs that are decorated for the Christian feast of Easter, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. As such, Easter eggs are common during the season of Eastertide (Easter season). The oldest tr ...

). This is the only museum in the world dedicated to the pysanka, and it has become a calling card of the city. In August 2007 the museum was recognized as a landmark of modern

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

. The museum was opened on 23 September 2000, during the 10th International

Hutsul The Hutsuls (sometimes the spelling variant: Gutsuls; uk, Гуцули, translit=Hutsuly; pl, Huculi, Hucułowie; ro, huțuli) are an ethnic group spanning parts of western Ukraine and Romania (i.e. parts of Bukovina and Maramureș). They ...

festival. Director Yaroslava Tkachuk first came up with the idea of a museum in the shape of a pysanka, local artists Vasyl Andrushko and Myroslav Yasinskyi brought the idea to life. The museum is not only shaped like an egg (14 m in height and 10 m in diameter), but parts of the exterior of and inside of the dome are painted to resemble a pysanka.

Museum collections

At this time, the museum possesses a collection of over 10,000

pysanky The tradition of egg decoration in Slavic cultures originated in pagan times,Kazimierz Moszyński – Kultura ludowa Słowian, Kraków 1929Anna Zadrożyńska – Powtarzać czas początku, Warsaw 1985, and was transformed by the process of r ...

. The permanent collection includes pysanky from the majority of the

oblast An oblast (; ; Cyrillic (in most languages, including Russian and Ukrainian): , Bulgarian: ) is a type of administrative division of Belarus, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Ukraine, as well as the Soviet Union and the Kingdom of ...

s of

. Many are modern re-creations of traditional designs, including a recreation by Oksana Bilous and Zoya Stashuk of the Skarzhynska collection (as depicted by Kulzhynsky), but there is also a fine collection of older pysanky from the Ivano-Frankivsk region that date from the 19th and 20th centuries. There are many examples of both pysanky and other forms of decorated eggs from other Slavic countries (

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

, the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

) and more distant lands (

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

, Sweden, United States, Canada, France,

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

, India). The museum also presents temporary exhibitions in its galleries, usually collections of folk or original pysanky by local pysankary. Other exhibits are usually related to the pysanka and Hutsul

Easter Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...

traditions, but can also encompass other folk arts. Another special collection at the museum are pysanky decorated with hand-signatures by all Ukrainian presidents and most of First Ladies, and by foreign politicians who visited the museum.

Gallery

File:Pysanka Museum in Kolomyia.jpg, File:Pysanka Museum Kolomyia 01.jpg, File:Pysanka Museum.JPG, File:Pysanka Kolomyia 06.JPG, File:Pysanka Kolomyia 07.JPG, File:PysankyKolomiya.JPG, File:Muzeum pisanki-145.jpg, File:Muzeum pisanki-146.jpg, File:Muzeum pisanki-128.jpg, replica of the oldest pysanka in Ukraine File:Muzeum pisanki-42.jpg, File:Muzeum pisanki-41.jpg, File:Muzeum pisanki-39.jpg, File:Muzeum pisanki-48.jpg, File:Muzeum pisanki-45.jpg, File:Muzeum pisanki-133.jpg, File:Muzeum pisanki-30.jpg, File:Muzeum pisanki-20.jpg, File:Muzeum pisanki-19.jpg, File:Muzeum pisanki-26.jpg, File:Muzeum pisanki-134.jpg, File:Muzeum pisanki-21.jpg, File:Muzeum pisanki-31.jpg,

References

External links

Pysanka Museum

(''in Ukrainian'') {{authority control Art museums established in 2000 World Heritage Sites in Ukraine Museums in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast Eggs in culture Kolomyia Decorative arts museums 2000 establishments in Ukraine Art museums and galleries in Ukraine Folk art museums and galleries

Museum collections

Gallery

See also

References

External links