About project

The purpose of the Virtual Museum of “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy” project is to digitally reconstruct Kyiv-Mohyla Academy’ historical and cultural heritage of its 400-year history (Kyiv Epiphany Brotherhood School (Kyivska Bratska Shkola) – Kyiv-Mohyla Academy – Kyiv Theological Academy – the National University of “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy”) and to popularize and disseminate the knowledge about the historical past and the present of Ukraine’s oldest educational institution by various online means.

At all stages of its existence, Kyiv-Mohyla Academy has been the leading academic and educational institution in Ukraine. Its founders, creators, and disciples held the key positions in all spheres of social, political, ecclesiastical, religious, scientific, cultural, educational, and public life of Ukraine, as well as in the countries of Eastern Europe, Transcaucasia, and the Middle East.

Due to the liquidation of the Academy by the Soviet authorities, its historical territory and historical and cultural heritage were abandoned and destroyed. The rare and valuable books, archival, archaeological, historical, artistic, and memorial collections of the Academy were disbanded and transferred to various institutions of Kyiv, where they are still partially preserved until today. In addition, a large array of historical sources, archival documents, manuscripts, printed publications, and artistic objects reflecting the Chronicle of the Academy and the activity of the Mohylyans, are also preserved in many libraries, archives, and museums of Russia, Poland, Germany, Sweden, and Turkey.

Since 1992, the time of the revival of the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, its University Library, NaUKMA Museum, “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy Heritage” Research Centre, collect, systematise, study and popularize the historical and cultural heritage of the Academy and information about its present situation. The researchers have published a number of encyclopaedic, monographic, and source publications on the history of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. Historical materials and artefacts of the Academy are displayed not only in the exposition and within the exhibitions of the NaUKMA Museum but also in the digitized format: they could be found both in the NaUKMA Electronic Library and in the World Digital Library.

Task of the Project. The project aims to present digital materials on the history of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy which are stored in the funds of the University Library and the NaUKMA Museum. In the future, the inter-institutional cooperation is planned between the NaUKMA and other Ukrainian and foreign library, museum, and archival institutions, with the purpose to present materials from their collections reflecting the historical past of the Academy.

The Virtual Museum of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy will facilitate the research, the preservation through digitization, and popularization of historical documents and artefacts of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy from different collections, and will also create a possibility of a wide access to these materials through modern technologies based on one platform: the Internet Portal of the Virtual Museum of “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy”.