110 Rarities of the Lviv Historical Museum
The Lviv Historical Museum keeps about 330,000 exhibits in its stores and exhibition halls. Why did they select exactly 110? Because the museum was founded 110 years ago. An idea occurred to its workers: creating a unique illuminated catalog representing most valuable exhibits and simultaneously implying the museum’s venerable age.
The publication turned out to be quite expensive: first, it was difficult to define the value of the exhibits displayed (for the museum workers each of them is priceless). Second, for the Afisha Publishers, which published the catalog, it cannot be profitable because of the limited edition and high requirements. Thus, it appears something a charitable deed, since the only reward will be gratitude of the Lviv residents who are interested in antiquities, and our descendants who should know about our rich history.
First among the rarities is one of the four most ancient musical instruments dating from late Paleolithic period, found near the village of Molodove (three others are stored at the Archeology Department of the Institute of Ukrainian Studies). A sopilka flute made of a reindeer antler was used for magic rituals. People believed that music, singing, and incantations could affect natural phenomena. The second rarity is called Madonna with Child, one of the best depictions of a mother of the Neolithic period. Number three is the Trypillian Orantha, a slim woman wearing a long dress, a priestess imitating the goddess.
Many rarities found their way to the museum collections through many obstacles. One of them is a kolt, a temple decoration in the form of a bag containing aromatizers. Such kolts were popular in Kyiv Rus’ of the eleventh to thirteenth centuries. This particular kolt Ukrainian archeologist Yakov Pasternak took with him when he fled Ukraine in 1944. His last will was that the kolt should be returned to his motherland when Ukraine gains independence. In 1997 Canadian writer Lidia Paliy carried out his bequest.
