National Museum of the History of Ukraine

The National Museum of the History of Ukraine is the country's leading history museum and one of the most important centres for preserving national memory. Its collection of about 800,000 objects covers the history of Ukraine from the earliest times to the present: archaeological and numismatic collections of world importance, ethnographic objects, weapons, decorative and applied art, manuscripts, early printed books, paintings and graphic works, and relics of the 20th-century Ukrainian national liberation movement. Especially valuable items of precious metals and gemstones are kept in the museum's branch, the Treasury. Founded in 1899, the museum has since 1944 stood in the very heart of Kyiv, on Starokyivska Hill, in a listed building erected in 1937–1939 to a design by Yosyp Karakis. Over its history it has changed its name several times and lived through difficult periods of war and political change, yet it has always remained a centre of research, education and heritage preservation. Today it plays a key role in shaping a modern view of the history of Ukraine and its place in the European and world context.