Kyiv Online

Ukrainian Heritage Sites

museumUNESCO World Heritage⭐ 4.8 (1250 reviews)

Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko National Museum of Arts

Ukraine's largest collection of European, Asian and Ancient art

📍 Kyiv, Kyiv•🏛️ 1882-1888

About This Site

The Khanenko Museum is Ukraine's leading museum of world art, established in 1919 based on the private collection of Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko. It houses the largest and most valuable collections of European, Asian and Ancient art in the country.

The Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko National Museum of Arts is Ukraine's leading museum of world art. Established in 1919 according to the will of art collector Bohdan Khanenko (1917) and the deed of gift to the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences signed by his wife Varvara in 1918. The art collection of Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko, distinguished Ukrainian collectors and philanthropists of the late 19th and early 20th century, forms the core of the museum's holdings. The Khanenko collection is the result of over 40 years of purposeful collecting activity. The couple traveled extensively throughout Europe, attended auctions, visited private collections, and consulted with leading art historians. The museum comprises two late 19th-century buildings on Tereshchenkivska Street in central Kyiv. The Khanenkos' mansion houses the permanent exhibition of European fine and decorative arts from the 14th through the 18th century. A group of unique early Byzantine icons from the 6th and 7th centuries has been on display in a separate room since 2004. On the first floor is the permanent exhibition of Ancient art. The second museum building (formerly property of the Sakhnovskyi family, close relatives of the Khanenkos) has housed the permanent exhibition of Asian art since 2006. Four rooms are dedicated to the art of Buddhism and Islam as well as China and Japan. The museum's collection includes more than 25,000 items. Almost 1,000 selected artworks are displayed permanently. The museum holds original works by outstanding European masters such as Pieter Paul Rubens, Gentile Bellini, Juan de Zurbarán, Jacques-Louis David, François Boucher, and others. On February 24, 2022, following Russia's full-scale invasion of sovereign Ukraine, the museum team dismantled and secured the permanent exhibitions. On October 10, 2022, a Russian missile hit a playground next to the museum. The facade of the Khanenko Mansion was significantly damaged. Thanks to immediate assistance from international partners, the integrity of the building was restored.

Historical Significance

The Khanenko Museum traces its history to the 1870s, when Bohdan Khanenko (1849–1917) met and later married Varvara Tereshchenko (1852–1922). Bohdan Khanenko came from an aristocratic Ukrainian family. Upon completing his education in Moscow, he worked in Saint Petersburg and Warsaw. While in Saint Petersburg, he developed an interest in the art of Old Masters. In the late 1880s, the Khanenkos settled in Kyiv. Bohdan engaged in the city's cultural and social life as well as the Tereshchenko brothers' business activities. He successfully led the project of establishing the first public museum in Kyiv (opened in 1904). Bohdan donated a large part of his collection to the new institution, including invaluable archaeological artifacts. Varvara Khanenko (née Tereshchenko) was the eldest daughter of the prominent Ukrainian businessman and philanthropist Nykola Tereshchenko. From her father's family she inherited a passion for charity and arts. Varvara was fond of old Italian painting, maiolica, ancient Ukrainian icon, and folk art. Between 1882 and 1888, a new house was built on the plot — two stories from the front and three from the courtyard. The architect was most likely Robert-Friedrich Melzer. In 1891, the Khanenko family completed the left wing of the house. Throughout the 1880s and 1890s, they were engaged in the interior design. The house was conceived as a kind of 'theatre of art history'. In the early 1900s, the Khanenkos donated several thousand items from their collection to the first public museum in Kyiv. Today these artworks are owned by five national museums in Kyiv. In June 1919, the Bolshevik government nationalized the Khanenko family property. The State Museum of Art opened in Bohdan and Varvara's house. Art historian and artist Georgiy Lykomsky (1884–1952) became its first curator. In 1924, two years after Varvara's death, the names of the Khanenkos were removed from the museum's title 'due to the lack of revolutionary services to the proletarian culture'. In 1998, under new leadership headed by Vira Vynohradova, the era of restoration of historical memory began. In 1999, the founders' names returned to the official title of the museum.

The Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko National Museum of Arts is Ukraine's leading museum of world art and an important cultural institution of international significance. The museum holds the largest and most valuable collections of European, Asian and Ancient art in the country, comprising more than 25,000 items. The European art collection includes unique works by Pieter Paul Rubens, Gentile Bellini, Juan de Zurbarán, Jacques-Louis David, François Boucher and other outstanding masters of the 14th–19th centuries. The museum also holds rare examples of medieval polychrome wood sculpture, original works by Antonio Canova, and prints by Albrecht Dürer, Lucas van Leyden, Rembrandt. A particular pride of the museum is a group of four early Byzantine encaustic icons from the 6th–7th centuries — unique world monuments created shortly before the beginning of iconoclasm. The Asian art collection is represented by valuable works of Chinese, Japanese, Tibetan, Iranian and Turkish art. The museum is listed in the State Register of Immovable Monuments of Ukraine. The museum's historic buildings — the Khanenko mansion and the Sakhnovskyi house — are outstanding examples of late 19th-century architecture with unique interiors.