"Jewelry and War" Lecture by Iryna Udovichenko

When: August 2, 2026, Sunday, at 1:00 PM

Address: Kyiv, 21 Ivan Mazepa St, Building 12, Treasury of the National Museum of the History of Ukraine (territory of the National Preserve "Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra")

Participation fee – 150 UAH; for seniors, students, and schoolchildren – 100 UAH (no additional fee for admission to the museum or the Lavra).

Advance registration is required by phone at (044) 280-13-96 or (050) 276-41-14

Seemingly, what could be further from war than jewelry? Yet our experience — our incredibly painful experience — shows that war has brought irreversible changes to jewelry art as well. We want to bring evidence of our resilience, national symbols, and the realization of pain closer to our bodies, and even more so, bring our dreams and love closer. Ukrainians want to wear such pieces, and jewelers strive to create them.

Since 2022, the Treasury of the National Museum of the History of Ukraine has been building a collection of works that serve as artistic reflections on the events of the Russian-Ukrainian war. These items add to the collection of contemporary Ukrainian jewelry art, which began forming back in 1981.

During the meeting, we will discuss how the museum acquired its first jewelry pieces created by artist-jewelers of the second half of the 20th century, and how contemporary artists, since the onset of the full-scale invasion, have been capturing events, reflections, emotions, and hopes in metal.

The meeting with the museum's exhibits will be led by Iryna Udovichenko, Senior Researcher at the Research Department of the Treasury of the NMHU.