/

A long-awaited event took place in the Museum: the exhibition project “Sign on the Shield” was presented on official completion of the project “Trident of the Motherland”. This is a joint initiative of the War Museum and the non-governmental organization “Bogdan Gubsky Foundation “Ukraine – 21st Century”. The event took place in the Exhibition Center of the Museum in the new exposition space that was opened for visitors for the first time on the Independence Day of Ukraine.

The exposition reveals the most interesting facts from the history of the Trident, draws attention to the most important stages of its evolving into the state coat of arms. This is a peculiar response to the actual public questions regarding the reproduction of the ancient princes’ symbol on the shield. It highlights the connection of this process with renaming of the Motherland Monument and the Museum in general.

The official part began from the introductory speech by Director General of the Museum, curator of the project “Sign on the Shield” Yurii Savchuk. He told about the challenges that the museum team had to overcome on the way to achieving the ambitious goals: change of the symbols on the shield of the sculpture, opening of the new exposition venues and creation of the unique exhibition “Sign on the Shield”.

Therefore, the Temporary Acting Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine Rostyslav Karandieiev held a speech. He congratulated Ukraine on successful completion of the project “Trident of the Motherland” and thanked to everyone involved.

Doctor of History, Dean of the Historical Faculty of the Kyiv National Taras Shevchenko University and the active officer of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Ivan Patryliak emphasized that depiction of national symbols is one of priorities for each state during its establishment, and Ukraine had been going towards this for more than 30 years. Finally, on the 32nd year of independence, the Trident took its place on the shield, where the real heraldic symbol must be.

The honorary guest of the exhibition opening was the former Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine Oleksandr Tkachenko.

During the ceremony, Yurii Savchuk thanked the donators who financially supported the project “Trident of the Motherland” and handled the museum decorations and memorial badges to representatives of the Nova Post, Universal Bank (monobank), Oschadbank, PUMB, OTP Bank, Ukrainian Agrarian Holding LLC, WOG filling station network, First Private Brewery, KAN Development, Charity Fund of Gennadii Butkevych, PrivatBank, Independent Association of the Banks of Ukraine.

After the official part of presentation, the guests were invited to the curator’s excursion at the exhibition “Sign on the Shield”. During the tour, the author of idea Yurii Savchuk not only shared the interesting facts about the exhibits with the guests, but also told about the peculiarities of forming the exhibition, as well as the origins of the intention to implement this project.

After the tour, the guests had one more surprise: the opening of the Museum café. The first person to order a cup of coffee was Deputy Minister of Culture and Information Policy Taras Shevchenko.

The guests of the event enjoyed tea, coffee and sweets. The Museum thanks to the sponsors of the café opening: IBIS Culinary House, DISCAF company, Kashkan Logistic LLC (distributor of the Lukas company), Coca-Cola and Tea and Coffee companies.

We invite you to visit the exhibition “Sign on the Shield” in the Museum!