"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also".(Mt. 6:21 NRSV).
I love this line and it often springs to my mind. In ancient times, as now, gold has great power over people. Undoubtedly, the war that Russia brought us forced each of us to decide where our hearts will be, and what is not just the main thing in life, but the most important thing.
I don't want you to think that this is some kind of sermon and instruction. These are just my thoughts, and also an introduction to the story about several interesting museums in Kyiv. The first comes a Treasury of the National Museum of History.
Treasury of the National Museum of the History of Ukraine
Today I will tell you a little about Scythian gold.
This is a special topic for me because I didn't really like museums before. But, like all tourists, I visited the most famous ones during my travels. That time, it wasn't even my choice. It was a package tour of Greece. It included a several-day itinerary around mainland Greece, visiting the most famous landmarks, and ended with a few days at a seaside hotel.
One day we were brought to Vergina. It was the first capital of Ancient Macedonia. It was there that archaeologists found a mound that covered the tomb of King Philip II, the father of Alexander the Great. His tomb was found intact, and these finds and the tomb itself are now on display in an archaeological museum. And this museum was built inside the mound, around the tomb. That is, it is still in its place. It was there that I saw Scythian gold for the first time.
Kurgan is an ancient religious building, a place of worship. And this is how the Scythians buried their dead. Did you know that Herodotus called the lands of modern Ukraine Great Scythia? They came to this land in the 7th century BC. But again I deviated from the main topic. I'm sorry, I have so much to say.
As you have already understood, there are many Scythian mounds on the territory of Ukraine. Over a thousand years, most of them were looted. But scientific archaeologists differ from "black archaeologists" in that they investigate not only for the sake of treasures and their own benefit. Their goal is much nobler and higher - they study eras, its culture, customs. Actually, our heritage.
In 1971, Borys Mozolevskyi was a young archaeologist. He, as part of an expedition with more famous colleagues, explored the Scythian burial mound Tovsta Mohyla (Fat Tomb), which is located in the Dnipro region. A few weeks ago, I was lucky to attend a lecture in the Treasury, which was dedicated to the main and largest find of the Tovsta Mohyla - the gold Scythian pectoral.
The mound itself was in a field, the railway passed by it, there were some industrial buildings. It didn't look like a place to find gold. Actually, they found it by accident. Or, to be precise, because this young archaeologist meticulously researched everything he had to. Or maybe it was the treasure that called him?
It was very interesting to hear this story from a woman who knew the people she was talking about. And then we went up to the second floor, where there is an exposition of what was found in this mound. And it was impressive! After a full-scale invasion, the real gold finds were moved to a safe place where they await the end of the war. They have been replaced with replicas, but still can impress.
The Scythians believed that their direct ancestor was the son of Zeus, born from the daughter of Borysthenes, the god of the Dnieper River. For them, gold was a symbol of power that came from the Gods.
This is a panel that adorns the wall above the stairs to the exposition.
In the barrow, the undisturbed burial of three people was found - a man, a woman and a child, probably a boy. The first photo shows an adult couple. So they could look in the clothes in which they were buried.
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A pectoral (from the Latin word pectoralis, pectus - "breast") is a neck ornament that covered the chest, and sometimes the shoulders and neck. Initially, it was a part of combat armor, and it was worn, of course, by men. Then it became jewelry, and women began to wear it as well. By the way, the cardigan was also originally a men's garment.
The Skythian golden pectoral (2nd picture from the left) weighs 1 kg and 150 g, has a diameter of 30.6 cm, and is made of 958 gold. A person who wore such jewelry had to be strong.
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Here, in the first picture is golden hryvna (also a copy). Once upon a time, this was the name of jewelry worn around the neck by rich women or men. Now this is the name of the monetary unit of Ukraine.
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In addition to finds from Tovstaya Mohyla, there are ornaments found not far from the cities, the names of which you often hear in the news from Ukraine - Berdyansk, Mariupol, Nikopol.
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You may have also heard about the Scythian Gold collection, which went to the Netherlands for an exhibition in 2013, just before Russia annexed Crimea. Thanks to this, the collection was saved from robbery. Ukraine has been suing for this collection for a long time, and recently it was finally decided that it belongs to Ukraine.
You know, after all, not only people, animals suffer from war. The Russians have come here to destroy everything related to our history. For three centuries they tried to do it covertly, and when they finally realized that the Ukrainians could not be defeated, they decided to attack openly and not hide their real intentions.
There is one popular Russian film. The hero of the film falls in love with a young woman who loves another. When he completely understands that she will never love him, he kills her with the words: "So don't you get to anyone!"...
Museum of the History of Kyiv
Now let's move to Ukraine of the 15th century. In those days, there was a unique community in our lands - Chumaks. It was a profession and at the same time a way of life. Itinerant traders who, for security reasons, organized themselves into "caravans" of about 100 people. Only instead of camels they used oxen.
The ox (you also know the Latin name Bos taurus) was the oldest livestock domesticated by humans. Actually, people specially castrated male cattle to use their great strength. Oxen were non-aggressive, so they were very popular in Ukraine. They used to plow land and harnessed to heavy carts, and horses were mostly ridden.
These days, the Museum of History of Kyiv has an exhibition dedicated to the Chumat icon on a fish.
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The museum building is very bright, spacious and modern. It is located on Bohdan Khmelnytsky Boulevard, which is currently being completely restored. This boulevard is paved with cobblestones. Its advantage over asphalt is that it does not need to be replaced, but only removed and re-laid.
So, Chumak could have a wife and children, but they saw each other only once a year. It was usually winter when travel was made difficult by the weather. There is a well-known case when Chumak had an anxious dream about his family, and he went to the priest in the nearest village to order a mess. But when the priest asked the names of his wife and children, he could not remember.
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Chumak returned home tired and dirty. His clothes were almost plain. While he was at home, his wife had to wash the dirty clothes to make them white again. In those days, there were no washing machines and bleachers. Ukrainian women used cow's butter and ashes.
Painting icons on dried fish is an ancient and little-known form of art that is now forgotten. A total of six such icons are known! Such icons were considered a Chumat amulet. The military had something similar - marching icons.
At the exhibition you can see the icon on the head of a catfish from the funds of the National Reserve "Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra". It is the only original preserved in Ukraine. Out of six known, five were painted on the head of a flounder, one on the head of a catfish. This is it:
The rest of the exhibits are modern reproductions of ancient Chumach traditions. These are the works of artist Oksana Osnach, which were rescued from the Kherson Museum. The artist was in Kherson under occupation all the time, continued to paint and posted photos of her works on the Internet. These are her works:
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In fact, I got no less pleasure from the tales and legends related to flounder, which are at this exhibition. It was very interesting to read different versions of the legend about flounder.
Art during the war
On my way home, I passed the opera house and noticed another installation.
I came closer and remembered that I had read about it. It is "Unbroken" authored by Felipe Jacome and Svitlana Onipko. This is a portrait of a Ukrainian ballerina printed with ultraviolet ink on bullet casings held together.
It is also the first public installation of the Sunflower Network project in Ukraine. Previously, they had an outdoor show in Paris and Madrid.
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The End
Thank you for spending your time with me today. I tried to make it interesting for you, so hope you enjoy. I wish you a good rest of the day, and all the best!
💙💛
Cheers, @zirochka
YAY, so glad you posted this in Art Talk. So fascinating. I took an Asian Art history class at Arizona State University and learned a lot about burial art, it is so interesting!
My first post here! I long was hesitant so I'm really happy you like my writing. A burial art must be exciting. History can be sooo interesting indeed.
Thanks a million for the tip!
!LUV ❤️
@sjarvie5, @zirochka(1/1) sent LUV. | connect | community | HiveWiki | NFT | <>< daily
! help(no space) to get help on Hive. InfoYou are so welcome for the tip. It is great to have people sharing art from all over the world. I agree, history is fascinating. I am applying to an online art history program at Cambridge. I am so excited. 🤞
Вітаю. Дякую за екскурс.
Давно не був в Києві. Останній раз проїздом на годин 8 з сім'єю в 2018. Що можна було їм за цей час показати ? Центр міста, річковий вокзал, ще декілька місць.
Були часи, коли Нацбанк ;-) організовував семінари на 3-5 днів і тоді була можливість відвідати цікаві місця в Києві. На жаль, в Національному музеї історії України так і не бував, хоч і прогулювалися тими місцями.
Та що казати, в Києві є реально багато місць, в яких ми ще не бували.
Надіюсь, що мирний час настане швидше, ніж ми думаємо і тоді з @uadigger до вас навідаємось ;-)
То ми знайомі?? )) Ану-ну?
Часи Нацбанку в минулому. Але завжди можна спланувати, накидати маршрут. Головне війну виграти. В Києві багато нових прикольних місць, в цьому плані він змінився на краще. Так що я тут, і завжди чекаю в гості!
Ви більше з Василем знайомі. Зі мною особисто ні. Я працював з ним (паралельний відділ) до останнього , поки нас остаточно не закрили (грудень 2017).
Більше вас знаю по публікаціям на стіміт. Хоча, інколи і тут ваші статті читав.
Але я вже 5 років не викладаю нічого в інтернет, навіть, коли з'явився hive, я так і не наважився почати знов писати.
Тепер може щось вийде, лише треба наважитись. Та і пару старих знайомих ще з тих років розважу (може)
Ого, вже й сабула, що було на стіміті )
А що наважуватись - тут усі свої )) Якщо хочеться, то треба писати! Бажаю успіху!
Скіфська пектораль неймовірно впізнавана, гортаєш стрічку, де переважно арти, і вона зразу привертає увагу.
Це так. Але ця лекція і сам музей дуже запам'яталися. Це булл щось зовсім інше, ніж читати новини і статті. Це була історія.
Дякую за коментар 🙂
Everything in life can be shown in potraits and that's how beautiful art can be...
They all are beautiful...
Thank you for your comment. ❤