A research exhibition devoted to the history of French investment in Ukraine opens in the media lounge at Ukraine Crisis Media Center (Ukrainian House in European Square, Khreschatyk str., 2) on Tuesday, June 20, 3pm.
The opening ceremony will be attended by:
Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, Vice Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine
Hugues Mingarelli, Ambassador, Head of the EU Delegation to Ukraine
Isabelle Dumont, Ambassador of France to Ukraine
Luc Jacobs, Ambassador of Belgium to Ukraine
Nadiia Kapustina, Director of the Dnipropetrovsk National History Museum named after Dmytro Yavornytskyi
Valentyna Lazebnyk, author of the exhibition, head of research and exposition department of history of Ukraine of the 14th-20th centuries at the Dnipropetrovsk National History Museum named after Dmytro Yavornytskyi
Yurii Maliienko, designer of the exhibition “Ukraine-France”
Dmytro Pirkl, philanthropist
Svitlana Hlushko, general director of the Donetsk Regional Local History Museum
Leonid Marushchak, curator of Ukraine Crisis Media Center art initiative
Olha Honchar, communications coordinator of Ukraine Crisis Media Center art initiative
During the exhibition opening, a discussion will be held on the promotion of the European period in the history of Ukrainian regions’ development, which has not been researched properly and remains little known to the public.
The tour of the exhibition will be guided by Valentyna Lazebnyk, author of the exhibition, head of research and exposition department of history of the 14th-20th centuries at the Dnipropetrovsk National History Museum named after Dmytro Yavornytskyi.
“International investment in Ukraine in late 19th – early 20th centuries. Part Two – France.” is a research into a little-known topic of Ukrainian relationships with Europe and the world in late 19th – early 20th centuries, refuting the myth of Soviet industrialization of Ukraine. The first part of the project was devoted to Belgian investments in Ukraine in late 19th – early 20th centuries and was widely presented in Donetsk and Luhansk regions in summer 2016. The second part tells about the relationship with France, and the third part will include the history of relations with other European and American countries.
The research is presented in the form of 20 information posters-collages of documents, stocks, bonds and photos. The original papers are in the Dnipropetrovsk National History Museum named after Dmytro Yavornytskyi.
The project offers a museum and historical version of relations between Ukraine and France in 1870-1918. The exhibition features nearly 230 historical documents and events of the time. It comprises portraits and photographs of French and Ukrainian entrepreneurs, founders and managers of factories, ore and coal mines opened involving French funds. The photos show giant iron plants with blast furnaces – the pictures that boggled the imagination of workers and metallurgists at that time.
Among the unique documents are shares issued in Paris, unique photos of ore mines and Hdantsivka plant, autographs of French entrepreneurs – P. P. Duval, P. Darcy, E. d`Uassel, P. Dumer, E. Paster, J. Bonnardel, M. Verstrat – on valuable securities in the museum collection. The exhibition displays companies’ advertisement, documents, photos of an Orthodox church built by the French in those days, and photographs of an old French cemetery in Druzhkivka with the remains of tombstones.
The basis for the exhibition was a collection of a Dnipropetrovsk philanthropist Dmytro Pirkl who was buying historical documents in Europe over 2011-2015. The collected materials were passed to the Dnipropetrovsk National History Museum named after Dmytro Yavornytskyi. Nadiia Kapustina, director of the museum, initiated their study and analysis. Further studies were conducted by Valentyna Lazebnyk. The exposition was formed by Valentyna Lazebnyk and designer Yurii Maliienko.
As part of the Ukraine Crisis Media Center program “Cultural diplomacy between the regions of Ukraine” under the auspices of Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, Vice Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine, the exhibition will go on a tour of museums in eastern cities of Ukraine, which will start from the Donetsk Regional Local History Museum.
Accreditation of visitors and media representatives for the exhibition opening on June 20 at [email protected] and [email protected]
Facebook event.
For further information, please call
+38 093 339 76 46 Olha Honchar, communications coordinator of Ukraine Crisis Media Center art initiative.
The exhibition “International investment in Ukraine in late 19th – early 20th centuries. Part Two – France“ will run from June 20 to July 9 from 10am. to 6pm. on weekdays in the media lounge at Ukraine Crisis Media Center (Ukrainian House in European Square, Khreschatyk str., 2).
