An ancient building of 1902 in the Northern Art Nouveau style, which comprised under its roof the works by respected Ukrainian landscape painters, as well as world-famous marine and realist artists.
Despite its ancient history, active community, and diversity of architectural styles, the city of Mariupol did not have an art gallery for quite a long time. It was only in 1973 that the first landscape exhibition in the Ukrainian SSR ‘Memorial to Kuindzhi’ was held in the Mariupol Museum of Local History. It was dedicated to Arkhyp Kuindzhi, a native of Mariupol and the world-famous Ukrainian realist artist, landscape painter, and teacher.
His works impress with light and colour, and the artist himself is usually called the ‘master of light’. He made dozens of incredible Ukrainian landscape paintings: ‘Moonlit Night on the Dnipro,’ ‘Dnipro in the Morning,’ ‘Chumatskyi Path in Mariupol,’ ‘Ukrainian Night,’ ‘Evening in Ukraine,’ ‘Tatar Saklya in Crimea.’
Over time, some works, including paintings by recognized Ukrainian landscape masters Tetiana Yablonska, Mykola Hlushchenko, Mykhailo Derehus, Ivan Marchuk, Serhii Shyshko, and Valentyna Tsvetkova, were selected and transferred to the local history museum. The Ukrainian artist Viktor Arnautov, who lived in the USA for a long time and collaborated with the Mexican monumental artist Diego Rivera, donated some of his own works to the museum. The history of the future Art Museum of Kuindzhi began with all of the listed works of art. The museum relocated to its own building on October 30, 2010.
The Art Museum was housed in an ancient building since 1902. This private house in the Northern Art Nouveau style was a wedding gift from Gazadinov, the head of Mariupol’s local self-administration, to his daughter. However, the family did not live here for long. The Bolsheviks took hold of Mariupol in 1917 and nationalised the building. A library and a party archive were located here in the Soviet period, and a pharmacy warehouse after WWII. The architectural monument gradually fell into disrepair without proper care and renovation. Only after the restoration of Ukraine’s independence was an art gallery established here in honour of Arkhyp Kuindzhi.
Three halls of the museum were dedicated to his artistic legacy. The artist’s photos, documents, letters, and, of course, the artworks tell the story of his life and work. In addition, paintings and graphic works by world-famous marine and realist artists were presented here, such as those of Ivan Aivazovsky, Oleksii Boholiubov, Vasily Vereshchagin, Nikolay Dubovskoy, and Lev Lagorio.
In total, the museum’s collection comprised 650 paintings, 960 graphic works, 150 sculptures, and more than 300 items of decorative and applied art. The halls of this cosy museum also served as a venue for lectures, chamber music evenings, theme meetings, interactive programmes, and film sessions about artists and their works.
All of this suddenly came to a full stop with the start of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. On March 21, the Russian bomb hit and completely destroyed the museum. The original Arkhyp Kuindzhi’s works were not in the museum at that time. However, the other artworks’ fate still remains unknown. The museum that carefully collected and preserved the beautiful landscape paintings disappeared forever. Instead, a different landscape appeared in the city of Mariupol, which was completely destroyed and burned by the Russian troops.
The city that once held memories has now turned into a memory itself.
Formerly Palace of Culture of the Azovstal plant. The building of the former Continental hotel (1887–1910).
A unique monastery complex of the XVI–XIX centuries with natural caves.
Historical buildings reflecting the Mariupol architecture of the late XIX and early XX centuries before the Bolshevik Revolution.
Donbas Arena is the home stadium of the Ukrainian ‘Shakhtar’ football club, which became the first of the ‘elite’ category in Ukraine and in all of Eastern Europe.
Invaluable monumental artworks, created by a group of Ukrainian monumentalists led by Alla Horska, a dissident artist and one of the Sixtiers movement’s founders. These panels incorporated elements of Ukrainian folk tradition, contemporary world trends, and Soviet art.
Formerly prospering trade and then a metallurgical centre of Ukraine that has become the symbol of the bloody Russian invasion of Ukraine and the genocide committed by the Russian army and government.
The only church in the world entirely decorated with Petrykivka paintings, an ancient style of folk Ukrainian decorative painting included in the UNESCO intangible cultural heritage.
The museum was established at the Faculty of History of Mariupol State University. It has become an important cultural and educational site bringing together students, professors, and citizens around the native land’s history.
The manor of Mariupol City Council’s mayor, having more than 150 years of history behind. Its architecture incorporated elements of the Stalinist Empire, Neoclassicism, and Baroque.
One of the oldest and largest Ukrainian museums, which collection comprised over 180 thousand exhibits, including the monuments and artefacts of world importance.
One of the biggest steam mills in the German Mennonite colony that existed in the Donetsk region at the turn of the 20th century. Built in 1903, this mill had been feeding people of New York and all of its suburbs for decades.
The central church of the Sviatohirsk Lavra’s convent, erected in the neoclassical style with baroque elements in 2005 in the site of a stone church of 19th century dismantled by the Bolsheviks.
The house was built in the constructivist style in 1929. It has been the centre of the city’s creative life for almost a hundred years.
Former State Bank’s building, constructed at the turn of the 20th century. In 2019, this site housed the city library, which history began back in 1904. An intellectual and educational centre of the city.
A two-storey manor in the classical style with a neo-Gothic tower, built in Mariupol 125 years ago. The state was a property of respected doctors.
Part of the Sviatohirsk Lavra. All the skete’s buildings are made of massive pine trunks. The All Saints Church, the main skete’s sanctuary, used to be the biggest wooden church in Ukraine.
The Azovstal plant in Mariupol was one of the largest iron and steel producers in Europe. In 2022 it became a symbol of resistance to brutal Russian aggression and the incredible courage of Ukrainian fighters.
Educational institution with more than 140 years of history where many generations of Mariupol citizens studied.
Center of spiritual life of Muslims of Donetsk region.
Two buildings are a monument to an entire era. They were the last buildings in Mariupol designed in the Stalinist Neoclassicism style.
One of the oldest theatres in the Left-bank Ukraine.
The mosque was built in 2007 on the site of a mosque built in 1906 and destroyed by the Bolsheviks in 1936.
St. Demetrius Church dedicated to the holy martyr Demetrius of Thessaloniki is one of the oldest in the region.