Over 100 items have been digitised for an online collection of industrial heritage in Mykolaiv

An online collection of the industrial heritage of southern Ukraine is being created in Mykolaiv. Photo: Development Agency

This was announced by Yevhen Homoniuk, regional development manager at the Mykolaiv Development Agency, during a live broadcast, according to NikVesti.

The project involves digitising museum and private items related to the history and industry of southern Ukraine. Some of them come from museum collections and private collections.

According to Yevhen Homoniuk, the Agency has been working on cultural heritage since 2019.

«This issue was important to us even during COVID-19, when we effectively lost physical access to museums due to the lockdown. And with the outbreak of full-scale war, the question of evacuating and preserving many collections arose,» he said.

He also noted that the digitisation of cultural heritage is important not only from the point of view of preservation, but also of communication.

«We are digitising these collections not only to preserve them, but also to use them to communicate, particularly with international partners. This is one way of showcasing Mykolaiv not merely as an industrial or military city, but as a city of culture, education and people,» emphasised Yevhen Homoniuk.

As part of this year’s work, several initiatives are being implemented in the city. In particular, a digital collection of Judaica has been created in collaboration with local initiatives. Over 100 items from various sources, including private museums in Mykolaiv, have also been digitised.

Separately, a series of materials and public events on the history of the Bulgarians, Germans, Jews and Karaites of Mykolaiv is ongoing. Two projects are also in progress — on maritime and industrial heritage.

«We view heritage not merely as the past, but as something that shapes our present and future. For Mykolaiv, the maritime theme encompasses shipbuilding, yachting, water sports, as well as art and literature connected to the sea and the open water,» he said.

Yevhen Homoniuk also added that through these projects, the city is rethinking its own identity.

«We are rethinking our past and trying to show how Mykolaiv can be seen as a city of culture, history and the open sea,» he concluded.

The online collection will include copies of unique thematic materials (production albums, early photographs, postcards), photographs of tools, memorial artefacts (personal belongings of Mykolaiv industrialists, including those who were repressed), graphics and paintings depicting scenes from the daily lives of the region’s industrial workers and the construction of landmark structures, from shipyards to the nuclear power station, as well as rare printed publications illustrating specific historical facts, aspects of social life and events in the city and region.

It is worth noting that in Mykolaiv, 329 20th-century paintings from the collections of two local museums — the Vasyl Vereshchahin Art Museum and the Regional Local History Museum — are now available in a virtual gallery and a bilingual printed catalogue. This has been made possible by the cultural project «Museum Digital Collection», which has been running for five years.

Previously, NikVesti reported that as of 7 September, the Mykolaiv Regional Local History Museum and the Vasyl Vereshchahin Art Museum had digitised nearly 700 exhibits.

As is well known, from the very first days of the full-scale war, Mykolaiv’s museums had to rescue exhibits from shelling and the risk of occupation. At that time, the collections of the three largest institutions – the Vasyl Vereshchahin Art Museum, the Regional Local History Museum, and the Museum of Shipbuilding and the Fleet – were evacuated to safe locations. For more details on how this happened, read the article in NikVesti entitled «Evacuation of exhibits and shelling: How are Mykolaiv’s museums coping with the war?».