When characterizing the exhibition space of the Museum in the mid-1990s, it is essential to highlight its scientific and curatorial innovations: free from the most provocative ideological clichés, with both victorious and victimized elements, and even timid attempts to rethink the Ukrainian liberation movement. However, it still primarily adhered to the Soviet discourse of the Second World War.
Among the prominent artifacts was the Kobzar published in 1939 to mark the 125th anniversary of Taras Shevchenko’s birth. This rare antique book belonged to the family of General Kyrponos. Its creation involved the best professionals of the time. The collection was compiled by scholars from the Institute of Ukrainian Literature at the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences. The editorial board included famous poets, writers, literary scholars, and historians: Oleksandr Korniychuk, Pavlo Tychyna, Maksym Rylskyi, Fedor Red’ko, and Davyd Kopytsia.
The binding and endpapers of the book were designed by Vasyl Krychevskyi (1901–1978), a Ukrainian artist and architect, and the son of Vasyl Krychevskyi, the author of the State Emblem of the Ukrainian National Republic. The book’s design was worked on by the painter, writer, and graphic artist, and People’s Artist of the Ukrainian SSR, Ivan Yizhakevych (1864–1962). Thirty-one illustrations by Yizhakevych depict the daily life of Ukrainians based on the works of Shevchenko. Printed using mezzotint at a printing factory in Kyiv, the engravings are notable for their depth and velvety tone, with rich light-shadow nuances. The frontispiece-insert features a color portrait of T. Shevchenko, a reprint of the work by Ilya Repin.
The publication was overseen by literary editor Antin Khutoryan (Lysovyi) (1892–1955), a poet, journalist, and translator. The Kobzar was bound in red leather and issued in a limited edition of 20,000 copies, priced at 20 rubles. Typically, such bindings adorned bibliographic copies of books for exclusive presentation. "To my dear friend – beloved wife S.A. [Sofia Oleksivna] from the loving Mykhailo Kyrponos. D.A. [Active Army] 20.08.1941" – is written on the title page.
At that time, both the relic and the name of General Kyrponos, who belonged to the "pantheon" of Ukrainian-born commanders and was the commander of the Southwestern Front, who died in battles for Kyiv and was buried in the Park of Eternal Glory, fully aligned with the vision of the Ukrainian dimension of World War II.
In reality, however, behind this seemingly innocent step – the publication of the complete works of Shevchenko (two years earlier, the republics of the USSR were marked with Pushkin) – lay the hidden aspirations of the Kremlin’s dictates for the further forced transformation of Ukrainians into a unified "Soviet man." Soon, portraits of the Kobzar or, let’s say, the "Stonemason," would be torn from the walls of Ukrainian homes, and their owners would be sent to the Gulag on charges of "connections with Ukrainian bourgeois nationalists."
As for Kyrponos, who once actively fought against the Ukrainian People’s Republic (UPR) and later remained loyal to Stalin, he was among those responsible for the catastrophe involving the loss of hundreds of thousands of Red Army soldiers (including many Ukrainians) in the "Kyiv encirclement" of 1941. His legacy is quite ambiguous today. At the same time, his image as an undoubtedly skilled commander remains an integral part of the national military chronicle of the 20th century.