Reserve celebrates 99th anniversary of Bolsheviks-created museum in Lavra

Deputy Minister of Culture, LGBT activist Verbytsky celebrates the creation of a museum by the Bolsheviks in the Lavra. Photo: press service of the reserve

The “Kyiv–Pechersk Lavra” Reserve is marking the 99th anniversary of its establishment by the Bolshevik authorities, wrote Acting Director Svitlana Kotliarevska.

She admitted that the creation in 1926 of the “Museum Town” was an ambiguous event.

“Some are proud of this day. Others interpret it as the Bolshevik occupation of a spiritual shrine. Everyone has their own truth,” wrote the official.

According to her, the main thing is not what the Bolsheviks did 99 years ago, but what she and her colleagues are doing today.

“Lavra museum work is an honor – to open Ukraine and its history through the prism of the Lavra,” Kotliarevska declared. However, she did not clarify how the present-day actions of the museum toward the Orthodox shrine differ from those of the Bolsheviks nearly a century ago.

Earlier, Kotliarevska complained that after the closure of the caves, attendance at the Lavra catastrophically dropped, but she shared a plan to lure people into the reserve with ice cream, coffee, and souvenirs.

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