According to the Interfax-Ukraine Culture project, in honor of International Museum Day, the Ivan Honchar Museum opened part of its collection and shared the stories of five exhibits that have survived the disappearance of villages, the changing of eras, the loss of traditions, and even the memory of themselves, the museum’s press service told the agency.
“Each of these items is not just an object, but an experience that cannot be contained within a single human biography. They preserve the memory of an environment that has already disappeared and give us a chance to experience it,” says Oleksandra Storchai, a researcher at the Ivan Honchar Museum.
These are items created decades and centuries ago, which today have become not just museum exhibits, but tangible witnesses to vanished worlds.
Among the main exhibits are two embroidered shirts from Bakota—a village in Podillia that was flooded in 1981 during the construction of the Novodnistrovsk Hydroelectric Power Plant. Today, this place is called the “Ukrainian Atlantis.”
The museum emphasizes that these shirts serve as a memory of the lives of people who were forced to leave their homes along with the village, which disappeared forever under the water.
The collection also features balamuty—traditional necklaces made of fossilized mother-of-pearl. According to legend, deposits of this material in Ukraine were exhausted by the end of the 19th century, so today it is virtually impossible to recreate such jewelry.
Another exhibit is a salba, a chest ornament covered with coins from various countries and eras. It combines coins from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the United States, and Canada, some of which date back to the 18th century.
Separately, the museum displayed a Volyn shirt with a restrained aesthetic and complex embroidery techniques, as well as one of the oldest shirts in the collection—featuring a slanted sleeve. Such a cut was already considered outdated by the early 20th century.
The museum notes that all these items have one thing in common—they have outlived their owners, the eras, and the environments in which they were created, yet they continue to preserve the memory of them.
The Ivan Honchar Museum is one of Ukraine’s key museums dedicated to the preservation and study of Ukraine’s traditional culture and ethnographic heritage.
https://interfax.com.ua/news/culture/1168579.html
According to the Interfax-Ukraine Culture project, the 10th Italian Design Day took place in the capital, dedicated to the theme “Re-Design: Regenerating spaces, objects, ideas, and relationships,” regenerating spaces, objects, ideas, and relationships“), the Italian Embassy in Ukraine reported on its Facebook page.
”Design is a distinctive expression of Italian quality and an effective tool for meeting the growing demand of the Ukrainian market,” said Carlo Formosa, Italy’s Ambassador to Ukraine.
The event took place at Taryan Towers. It was attended by over 150 representatives of Ukrainian and Italian institutions, businesses, and creative industries.
Among the participants were Ukraine’s Minister of Economy, Environment, and Agriculture Oleksiy Sobolev and representatives of leading Ukrainian institutions.
The event focused primarily on issues of architecture, design, and post-war reconstruction. The Italian side was represented by “Design Ambassador” Luca Tripetti, who presented a vision for cooperation in the woodworking and furniture sectors in Ukraine. Designer Carlo Colombo also joined the event online.
As part of the event, the exhibition “Città in scena” was presented, dedicated to urban regeneration and sustainable development projects.
The embassy noted that the event took place against the backdrop of growing interest in “Made in Italy,” particularly in the fields of design and furniture.
Italian Design Day is an international initiative aimed at fostering cooperation in the fields of design, architecture, and the creative industries.
https://interfax.com.ua/news/culture/1165047.html
According to the Interfax-Ukraine Culture project, as part of the 17th Odessa International Film Festival, a 24-hour challenge for young filmmakers will be held in the capital, during which participants will create short films under time constraints, the festival’s press service reports.
“The format involves a full production cycle in 24 hours—from concept to final edit,” the initiative’s organizers note.
The challenge will be part of the festival’s industry track and is primarily aimed at young directors, actors, and creative teams working with video content. Participants will form groups and shoot short films lasting up to several minutes, using available tools, including mobile devices.
The organizers expect that this format will allow participants to test their skills in rapid storytelling, teamwork, and decision-making under pressure—all of which are critically important for the modern film and creative industries.
Special attention will be given to practical experience: participants will not only create content but also present their work to the festival’s professional audience.
The event will take place in late August in Kyiv as part of the film festival program, which has been held in the capital for several years.
The Odessa International Film Festival is one of the key film forums in Eastern Europe. Following the outbreak of full-scale war, the event temporarily changed its location and is now held in Kyiv, maintaining its focus on the development of the Ukrainian film industry and support for young filmmakers.
https://interfax.com.ua/news/culture/1164937.html
According to the Interfax-Ukraine Culture project, the novel “Null” (“Zero”) by Polish writer Szczepan Twardoch, dedicated to the war in Ukraine, won in the “Fiction” category of the Książka Roku 2025 reader poll on the Polish platform Lubimyczytać, as reported on the platform’s website .
“The novel ‘Null’ is a story about war, memory, and what war does to a person,” note the organizers of the Książka Roku poll on the Lubimyczytać platform
The Lubimyczytać announcement notes that this year, readers cast 277,259 votes across 16 categories, and the winners were announced during a ceremony at the International Book Fair in Poznań.
In the fiction category, Twardoch’s novel beat out Valérie Perrin’s “Colette” and Jakub Malecki’s “Obiekty głębokiego nieba.” The “Null” platform describes it as a painfully contemporary story about the war in Ukraine, which was initially conceived as an essay for a German publisher but later evolved into a full-fledged novel.
As the poll organizers note, the book combines themes of war, historical memory, and the human experience of history, and raises questions about what war does to a person. This is not Twardoch’s first such recognition: last year, his novel “Korowód” won in this same category. In addition, “Null” previously also received an award as an Empik network bestseller.
The novel was published in February 2025 by Marginesy. Translations into German, Slovak, and Belarusian have since appeared, and the Ukrainian translation is being prepared by the publishing house “Fabula.”
Szczepan Twardoch is one of the most famous contemporary Polish writers, and his books have already been published in Ukrainian in Ukraine. In 2024, the writer was honored with the Stand with Ukraine Award for his support of Ukraine: following the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, he has been involved in humanitarian and volunteer aid, and he refused permission to publish his novel *The King* in Russia until the war ends.
As reported, on March 16, the DTEK photo exhibition “Do Svitla / Into the Light” will open at the “Sens” bookstore on Khreshchatyk in Kyiv. The exhibition is dedicated to one of the harshest winters Ukraine has endured during the war, as well as to the people who helped the country survive, according to the bookstore’s press service.
https://interfax.com.ua/news/culture/1151986.html
Ukraine has begun accepting submissions for the Ivan Franko Award in the field of information activities, one of the state awards for authors whose publications, television and radio works, and scientific research shape historical memory and public consciousness. Works can be submitted from March 2 to May 1, 2026, according to the State Committee for Television and Radio Broadcasting.
“The competition is open to new original journalistic works that contribute to the establishment of the historical memory of the people, their national consciousness and identity, and are aimed at state-building and the democratization of Ukrainian society,” the statement said.
These are works that have already been published or made public in their final form within the last three years, but no later than six months before being nominated for the award. The award itself is traditionally presented annually on Ivan Franko’s birthday, August 27. The amount of each award is 10,000 hryvnia.
The award will be presented in four categories: for the best publication in print media, for the best work in television, for the best work in radio broadcasting, and for the best scientific work in the field of information. At the same time, the same candidate cannot be nominated with two or more works at the same time.
To participate, you must submit an application with a brief description of the work and the author, a copy of the work on a physical medium with confirmation of its publication, and a copy of your passport. Documents are accepted by the State Committee for Television and Radio Broadcasting.
Ivan Franko (1856-1916) was a Ukrainian writer, poet, publicist, and scholar, one of the key figures of the national revival of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was born in the village of Nahuyevychi in the Lviv region, studied at Lviv University, and was involved in journalism and public and political activities. Franko is the author of poetry collections, prose works, and dramas, as well as numerous literary and scientific works; among the most famous are the poem “Moses,” the novel “Boryslav Laughs,” and the novella “Zakhary Berkut.” Franko’s work combines social themes, national ideas, and a European intellectual context; his texts have been translated into many languages.
The Ukrainian children’s art festival “Veselka” was held in Novi Sad, Serbia, organized with the participation of the Ukrainian Embassy and the Ukrainian diaspora. The event became a platform for cultural unity and support for Ukrainian families living in Serbia.
The Veselka festival brought together children and families of Ukrainian origin from different cities in Serbia, offering them master classes, concerts, and interactive zones. The aim of the event was to preserve ties with Ukrainian roots, support the emotional well-being of migrant children, and strengthen the cultural infrastructure of the diaspora.
Exact data on the number of Ukrainian citizens and residents in Serbia varies. According to the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs, approximately 22,000 Ukrainian citizens have been registered in the country since the start of the war.
However, statistics on the number of Ukrainians living permanently or under temporary protection are not published regularly.
