Marharyta Kryvenko
Candidate of Historical Science, Head of the Depart­ment of European Books of the XIX–XX Centuries, Vasyl Stefanyk National Scientific Library of Ukraine in Lviv

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Common Historical and Cultural Heritage: Preservation, Study, Understanding

The article highlights the concept and content of the international exhibition “Hidden – Open: Books from the Jesuit Church in the V. Stefanyk Natio­nal Scientific Library of Ukraine in Lviv”, which was first organized at the Ossolinski National Institute in Wrocław from July 11 to August 31, 2025 as part of cooperation between the Ossolineum and the Vasyl Stefanyk National Scientific Library of Ukraine in Lviv. Its goal is to draw attention to the issues of preservation, study and popularization of the common historical and cultural heritage. The exhibition presents publications that, due to historical events, were stored in the Jesuit Church until the end of 2011 (at 11 Teatralna Street in Lviv, now the Garrison Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul). For many years, this building functioned as a library book depository, and the pub­lications remained inaccessible to the general public and researchers.

These books mainly come from the library collections of scientific and cultural institutions, educational institutions and monasteries, as well as from private book collections of famous families and individuals (Ukrainians, Poles, Jews, Germans, Armenians), who before World War II lived compactly on these lands and created a common multicultural space. As a result of the policies of totalitarian regimes in the 1930s and 1940s, they were liquidated, displaced, and dispersed; they lost their integrity, uniqueness, and originality. However, they still have significant scientific, historical, cultural, and material value, arouse special interest among readers, and remain the object of interdiscip­linary and multifaceted research. Today, these publications form the basis of the fund of the Department of European Books of the XIXth–XXth сenturies of Vasyl Stefanyk National Scientific Library of Ukraine in Lviv, which was created in January 2020 for the purpose of proper storage, systematic processing, and introduction into scientific and public circulation.

The exhibition features 50 representative publications that are interesting in terms of authors, subject matter, artistic design, and printing, as well as va­luable in terms of their origin and book marks. The exhibits are conventional­ly grouped into three thematic sections, the names of which echo Shevchenko’s instructions: And we honor someone else’s... And we are proud of our own... And we are enriched by what is common...

These are foreign-language publications of the XIXth and early XXth centuries from historical collections: the largest Ukrainian library of the Shev­chenko Scientific Society, the Polish library of the Lviv Ossolineum; book col­lections formed by the societies “Prosvita”, “Studion”, the Jewish religious community in Lviv; libraries of famous Polish families (Didushytski, Bawo­rowski, Lubomirski, Moraczewski, Pawlikowski, Chshanowski, Treter) and the collection of the Armenian Archbishop Joseph Teodorovich.

Visitors are particularly attracted to books from private collections of ow­ners of various professions and fields of activity, distinguished by their thematic content, linguistic diversity, and wide geography of publication. Among them are publications from the book collections of: M. Hrushevskyi – Ukrai­nian historian, public and political figure, long-time head of the National School of Literature in Lviv; I. Franko – a classic of Ukrainian literature, scientist; O. Barvinskyi – public and political figure of Galicia, teacher, historian; V. Le­vytskyi – mathematician, founder of Ukrainian physical and mathematical ter­minology; I. Krevetskyi – book scholar, librarian, bibliographer, long-time head of the National School of Literature Library; S. Parfanovych – Ukrainian gynecologist, writer, one of the first female doctors in Western Ukrainian lands; Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytskyi – a famous religious figure and philanthropist.

The focus of the exhibition space is on antique books with provenances: Professor O. Balzer – Polish historian, rector of Lviv University (1895–1896); L. Bernatskyi – long-time director of the Lviv Ossolineum (1918–1939); Ba­ron K. Brunitskyi – a famous collector of works of art; M. Wolska – a poetess of the Young Poland period; V.-T. Wisłocki – a Slavist, bibliographer, bibliophile; O. Ortwin – a Polish literary and theater critic, public figure of Jewish origin; M. Goldstein – a famous Jewish art critic and collector; J. Mauss – a German by origin, a historian who belonged to the group of the most popular representatives of Lviv’s professorial world.

Of particular interest are the exhibited prints with inscriptions, which tes­tify not only to the close international scientific and cultural ties of that era, but also to the traditional role of the book as the most valuable gift.

The printed catalog of the exhibition, prepared by the employees of the De­partment of European Books of the XIXth–XXth сenturies of the Lviv Acade­mic Library and the employees of the Ossolineum in Wrocław, provides gene­ral information in three languages (Polish, Ukrainian, English) about the exhi­bits of the exhibition in the Ossolineum and the historical collections from which they come.

The international exhibition “Hidden – Open: Books from the Jesuit Church in the Vasyl Stefanyk National Scientific Library of Ukraine in Lviv” was viewed by 3,795 visitors. This is clear evidence that the issues of preserving, studying and understanding the common historical and cultural heritage remain important and relevant, especially today, when “history is returning to its roots” and national heritage is being destroyed again as a result of russian armed aggression against Ukraine. That is why modern libraries are digitising their valuable collections in order to preserve them for future generations. A full-text copy of the exhibited documents will also be placed on specialized digital resources of the Vasyl Stefanyk National Scientific Library of Ukraine in Lviv and the Ossolinski National Institute in Wroclaw.

Keywords: cultural heritage, historical collections, retrospective fund, Va­syl Stefanyk National Scientific Library of Ukraine in Lviv, exhibition activities, book exposition.

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