Museum of Western and Oriental Art

Museum of Western and Oriental Art in Kiev, also known as the Bogdan and Varvara Khanenko Museum of Art (Ukrainian: Музей Мистецтв ім. Богдана та Варвари Ханенків) is the largest collection of foreign art in Ukraine.

During the Soviet times, the museum ranked the third in the USSR by the value and size of its collection after The Hermitage in Saint Petersburg and the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow. Currently, the Museum is well-known both Ukraine-wide and abroad for its unique collection of paintings, sculptures, etchings, decorative arts of Western Europe, Middle and Far East as well as the Antiquity.

The incomplete list of its holdings includes the West European paintings, Egyptian and Classical antiquity , Italian Maiolica, Meissen porcelain, Persian Ceramics and Bronze sculpture, Japanese xylography and tsubas, Chinese paintings and Chinese porcelain.

Building

Established on September 21, 1887 at number 15 on Tereshchenkivska Street the building is constructed in Renaissance architecture. The building commissioned by Bogdan and Varvara Khanenko displays three towers on its facade and the family coat of arms. The recently restored interior of the building represents various historic epochs and styles.

History

Bogdan Khanenko was a famous patron of arts, and during his forty year collection activity he purchased works from art auctions in Vienna, Berlin, Paris, and Madrid. His most valuable purchases resulted from his trips to Italy where he obtained approximately 100 pieces through Rome and Florence auctions.

Shortly after death of Bogdan Khanenko at December 15, 1918 his widow Varvara gave away the entire collection to the city of Kiev as a charitable gift. On June 23, 1919 the collection gained a status of the state museum.

Collection

Throughout the years the collection has increased from 1,250 to over 17,000 artworks, totaling over 25,000 exhibits. It is currently considered to be the largest collection of foreign art in Ukraine. The museum contains a collection of Byzantium icons and the Middle Ages Orthodox applied art pieces. Famous masterpieces include a Portrait of Infanta Margaret by Diego Velázquez. Other valuable pieces in the collection include paintings of Gentile Bellini, Jacob Jordaens, Jean-Baptiste Greuze, Francisco Zurbarán, Luis de Morales, Claudio Coello, Claude Joseph Vernet, and Peter Paul Rubens among many others.

Additional pieces include Egyptian statues and bronze sculptures; antique terracotta and glassware; Roman and Greek sculptures, and other Byzantine exhibits along with ivory, textiles, icons and jewelry.

Trivia

  • Plafond in one of the rooms by Mikhail Vrubel was his first decoration work done not for church
  • Varvara Khanenko was evicted from her own house by the Soviets and had to live, for the last months of her life, in the house of her maidservant Dunyasha

External links

  • Official website [1]
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Tips & Hints
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Vladimir Ruban
27 March 2016
A lot of pictures, statues, furniture from amazing collection, place of which has to be somewhere in Louvre but no, it's in the center of Kiev with ticket cost less than 2$.Shechenko park is nearby
яна ♠️
5 February 2018
Интерьер в залах потрясающий. Рекомендую экспозицию западноевропейского искусства. Билет 40грн за одну экспозицию, 60грн за две.
Марина Хикм
11 March 2016
Очень хороший музей. За просмотр всего музея (восточный и западный залы) - 50 грн. Картины шикарные, хочется запомнить каждую.
Nikita T.
11 August 2014
Коллекция экспонатов музея насчитывает более 25000 наименований. Среди них есть полотна Рубенса, Веласкеса. А плафон в одном из залов расписал Врубель. Забудьте про галлерею Пинчук – приходите сюда!
Юлія Громило
19 February 2017
Чудесное место, где нужно побывать каждому и прикоснуться к прекрасному. Много залов, для осмотра нужно себе выделять минимум полтора часа. Каждое воскресенье для студентов бесплатный вход.
Yevhen
20 January 2022
Музей в целом понравился. Есть на что посмотреть. Разные регионы мира, эпохи. Захватывает дух и погружает в атмосферу тех времен. Много можно посвятить времени данному месту.
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Tereshchenkivska Street, 15, Kiev, Kyiv city, Ukraine Get directions
Wed-Sun 10:30 AM–5:30 PM

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