Taras Shevchenko Memorial House Museum in Kyiv

The Taras Shevchenko Literary Memorial House Museum, the first museum dedicated to the poet, was founded in 1928 and since 1966 has been a branch of the National Taras Shevchenko Museum.

This literary memorial museum recreates the atmosphere of 1846–47, when Shevchenko lived in Kyiv until his arrest in the case of the Brotherhood of Saints Cyril and Methodius.

It occupies the house of civil servant Ivan Zhytnytskyi, built in 1835 on the site of the former Kozyne Boloto ("Goat Swamp").

The house itself is a rare surviving example of Kyiv architecture from the first half of the 19th century. The poet lodged here with Collegiate Secretary Ivan Zhytnytskyi, who had once given the future author of the Kobzar a recommendation for admission to the Academy of Arts, so it was no accident that Shevchenko chose this address in Kyiv.

Shevchenko took a liking to Zhytnytskyi's house when he arrived in Kyiv in the spring of 1846. He rented a room with windows facing the street, as well as a small attic space that he set up as an art studio. The great poet spent a happy year here, full of creative work, interesting encounters and evenings with friends, since his close companions, the Ukrainian poet Oleksandr Afanasiev-Chuzhbynskyi and the artist Mykhailo Sazhyn, moved into the same house. Together with Sazhyn, Shevchenko sketched views of Kyiv, hoping to publish an album dedicated to the city.

Over time, the Zhytnytskyi house was rebuilt and fell into serious disrepair. After the revolution it was turned into apartments. In 1925, at the request of the renowned artist Vasyl Krychevskyi, a professor at the Architectural Institute, the house was restored. Krychevskyi led the artistic design of the house museum, drawing up plans for the rooms, the studio and the garden.

The museum opened to visitors on November 10, 1928. Between 1928 and 1941 its collection grew with works by Soviet artists. The museum suffered heavily during World War II, but the house survived.

In the postwar years the exhibition was modest, yet the sheer authenticity of this old-world house so close to grand Khreshchatyk made a strong impression on visitors. The exhibition, designed in the early 1990s, is free of needless gloss and the ideological clichés once attached to Shevchenko. The museum has a lovely garden, a "cherry orchard by the house" in the spirit of Shevchenko's famous poem, and the only manor garden of that era to survive in central Kyiv.

The exhibition fully covers Shevchenko's time in Kyiv during his three visits to his homeland, above all his stay in this house in 1846. The museum's collection holds unique treasures: Shevchenko's personal belongings, his etchings, manuscripts, photographs and editions of his works. Also on display are watercolors by Mykhailo Sazhyn, rare engravings of Kyiv landscapes, 19th-century photographs, works by prominent artists on Shevchenko themes, and decorative and applied art.

The room where Shevchenko lived has been recreated from the recollections of his contemporaries. Its centerpiece is the poet's desk, which holds unique exhibits: Shevchenko's pen holder, quill, inkwell, coffee pot and flask, and a pipe given to him by Mykola Kostomarov.

Address: 8a Tarasa Shevchenka Lane, Kyiv.

Metro: Maidan Nezalezhnosti