Shyshatskyi Local History Museum

The Shyshaky Museum of Local History, founded in 1967, is an important centre for preserving the historical and cultural heritage of the Shyshaky area. Its six halls hold more than two thousand objects: archival documents, archaeological finds, materials on the Second World War, post-war reconstruction, the development of education, culture, medicine and sport, and the history of independent Ukraine. A special place belongs to the folk studies hall with old household objects – a zhlukto laundry tub, grain measures, a wooden box, a trough and a ladle – that help visitors imagine the life and traditions of the area's people in the past. In recent years the hall devoted to the history of the settlement of Shyshaky has been substantially renewed. It covers little-known pages of the past: collectivisation, the tragedy of the Holodomor of 1932–1933, and the formation of independent Ukraine and the social and economic development of Shyshaky district from 1991 to the present. An important part of the museum is the room of military glory, which tells of the heroism of local people during the war, their part in the clean-up after the Chornobyl disaster and in the recent fighting in the ATO and JFO zones. It holds awards, personal belongings and photographs and hosts lessons of courage, memorial events and meetings with veterans. A separate hall is devoted to prominent figures of culture, science and art connected with the Shyshaky area, among them Mykola Gogol, Volodymyr Vernadskyi, Volodymyr Korolenko, the Krychevskyi brothers, Yurii Mytropolskyi, Oleksandr Dovzhenko, Vira Panova, Borys Vakhtin, Anatolii Karyshyn and Opanas Slastion. There is also a changing exhibition, "Masters of the Shyshaky Area", featuring works by local artists. The museum actively promotes decorative and applied art, organises numerous exhibitions of painters, woodcarvers and embroiderers, as well as creative meetings and book launches by local authors, preserving the unique cultural character of the region.