On May 21, the Museum hosted the presentation of a photo album dedicated to the city of Kyiv, its historical heritage, and its contemporary state.
The publication features carefully selected photographs of prominent landmarks in the capital, old maps, images of the city’s coats of arms, lithographs, and the earliest photographs of Khreshchatyk Street, Podil, and various architectural monuments. The album concludes with the section "Wounded City" – a chronicle of the consequences of russian attacks on the capital and the Kyiv region, serving as a painful testimony of our present day.
The Museum’s Director General, Yurii Savchuk, emphasized the importance of creating such a publication during wartime and noted that featuring the Museum on the book’s cover is a particular honor.
The authors of the publication are Kharkiv residents Habriel Mykhailov, Volodymyr Bysov, and Vitalii Shulha, as well as Kyiv native and writer Serhii Hrabar. During the presentation, they shared their motivation and insights into the process of creating the album.
"This book is not only about Kyiv’s past. It also speaks to today’s pain and our responsibility to remember events and heroes. Our mission is to ensure that memory does not fade," said the album’s originator, Habrieł Mykhailov.
This album is not the creative team’s first such project. Previously, the artists had published similar albums about the history of their native city, Kharkiv. According to the authors, the new work includes the most powerful historical and contemporary images that convey the strength and resilience of the capital.
"Photography is timeless. It speaks of yesterday, today, and forever," noted photographer Vitalii Shulha, who documented the aftermath of the shelling to preserve the truth for future generations.
The photo album, along with three other publications, will now be preserved in the War Museum’s collection.
