About the museum
The Andrey Sheptytsky National Museum in Lviv is one of the most distinguished national art and culture treasuries in Ukraine and in the world. It is a proud repository of over 175 000 objects that retransmit the historical origins and centuries-old evolution of the artistic culture of Ukraine from the Princely era to the period of Postmodernism and vividly reflects the phenomenon of the creative genius of the Ukrainians over the centuries.
The Museum was founded in 1905 as a Church Museum, a private foundation of the Metropolitan Archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church Andrey Sheptytsky. In the course of the rapid development of the museum establishment and enlargement of its collections it was renamed The National Museum in Lviv (1911). On December, 13th 1913, the opening ceremony of the National Museum in Lviv took place and the founder pronounced its solemn donation to the Ukrainian people. Under the persistent patronship of Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky and due to the diligent efforts of its first Director Ilarion Sventsytsky the Museum developed into the science and art institution of the European level.
Among the Museum’s highlights is the richest, the world-class collection of Ukrainian icons. It is equal to the precious assemblage of manuscripts and old printed books of the 13th – 18th cc. The Museum holds valuable collections of sculpture, decorative metal, old textiles, prints and drawings, numismatics, medals, folk decorative and applied art. The collection also includes the canvases by the most distinguished Ukrainian artists of the 19th – early 20th cc:: Taras Shevchenko, Kornylo Ustyianovych, Teofil Kopystynsky, Mykola Murashko, Serhiy Vasylkivsky, Fotiy Krasytsky, Petro Levchenko, Kiriak Kostandi, Oleksandr Murashko, Mykola Ivasiuk, to name but a few. There are widely represented art works demonstrating the intellectual and aesthetic worldview searches of the 20th century: from the boychukists and adepts of the avant-garde of the 1930s to the art of nonconformism of the 1960s and the boldest conceptual practices in the works of the leaders of contemporary art.
The Museum today is the leading Western Ukrainian art hub that resonates with the energy of creativity, ambitious initiatives and intellectual discoveries.
The spacious exhibition rooms highlight the best monuments of Ukrainian art of the 12th – early 20th cc. which reflect the evolution of the national culture in the span of nine centuries. Functioning as departments of the Andrey Sheptytsky National Museum in Lviv are the Memorial Art Museums of Ivan Trush, Oleksa Novakivsky, Olena Kulchytska, Leopold Levytsky opened in the former dwellings and art studios of the famous painters. In the scenic Sokal area the “Sokalshchyna” Art Museum (department of the NML) warmly welcomes its visitors (in the town of Chervonohrad, Lviv Region).
By February, 24, 2022 the permanent exhibitions of the Andrey Sheptytsky National Museum in Lviv were presented in the following locations :
– «Ukrainian art of the 12th – early 20th cc.» – The main buiding, 20, Svobody Ave, Lviv, Ukraine. Day off – Monday.
– «Ukrainian art of the 20th c.» – Historical Museum Ensemble, 42, Drahomanova Str.,, Lviv, Ukraine. Days off – Monday, Tuesday.
– «The life and creativity of Ivan Trush» – Ivan Trush Memorial Art Museum, 28, I.Trusha street . Lviv, Ukraine. Days off – Friday, Saturday.
– «The life and creativity of Oleksa Novakivsky» – Oleksa Novakivsky Memorial Art Museum, 11, Lystopadovoho Chynu street, Lviv, Ukraine. Days off – Friday, Saturday.
– «The life and creativity of Olena Kulchytska» – Olena Kulchytska Memorial Art Museum, 7, Lystopadovoho Chynu street, Lviv, Ukraine. Days off – Friday, Saturday.
– «The life and creativity of Leopold Levytsky» – Leopold Levytsky Memorial Art Museum, , 10, Ustyianovychiv street, Lviv, Ukraine. Days off – Friday, Saturday.
– Art Museum «Sokal`shchyna» (Sokalland), 16, B. Khmelnytskoho street, Chervonohrad, Lviv Region, Ukraine. Days off – Thursday, Friday.
After the unprovoked full-scale aggression of russian federation in Ukraine, on February 24, 2022,
The museum was closed to the public, exhibitions were dismantled, all the exhibits were packed and moved to storage facilities and other safe storage places. On June 1, 2022, the exhibition activity was resumed – in the main building and exhibition rooms at the Olena Kulchytska Memorial Art Museum.