BOGDAN AND VARVARA KHANENKO AS CREATORS AND PATRONS OF UKRAINIAN NATIONAL CULTURE (TO THE 170 TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BIRTH OF V. KHANENKO)

Abstract

Statement of the problems and its relevance. Current problems of the study of the national elite of Ukraine at the end of the XVIII – middle of the XIX centuries are clarified in the system of cultural studies. The role and place of the descendants of the leading group of the Ukrainian Cossack-Hetman state, who were the bearers of the national idea, are outlined in the historical and cultural processes of the post-Hetman era and the processes themselves are characterized by the revival of Ukrainian national culture. The cultural and social activities of Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko as creators and patrons of
Ukrainian national culture are objectively clarified. Special interest to the figure of Varvara Khanenko is actualized by her anniversaries – the 170th anniversary of her birth and the 100th anniversary of her death. The cultural-philosophical analysis and conclusions proved the need for argumentation, definition and formation of a separate direction in modern humanitarian science-cultural elitology.
The priority of the study is the role of the national elite of Ukraine, creators and patrons of Ukrainian culture of the late 18th – mid19th centuries in historical and cultural processes is determined by the following provisions. The first of them is caused by the desire to fill a gap in the history of Ukrainian national culture of the post-Hetman era; as well as the study of the emergence, functioning and descent from the historical arena of certain elite groups and individual personalities.
The purpose of the article. Particularly valuable is the reconstruction of the formation of the phenomenon of national elitist consciousness, which accompanied the constitution of the nobility-state in relation to the stereotypes of perception of the norms of honor, worldview, cultural identity and self-identity, preservation of the national heritage of the Ukrainian people.
Analysis of recent research and publications. The interest of Ukrainian scientists and artists in the figures of Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko as creators and patrons of Ukrainian national culture is recently growing. We note that interest in the figure of Varvara Khanenko is actualized by her anniversaries – the 170th anniversary of her birth (2022) and the 100th anniversary of her death (2022). The purpose of the study is to reconstruct the typology of social and cultural-public relations in the conditions of Ukraine at that time, as well as to objectively clarify the historical missionary work of Bohdan and
Varvara Khanenko in preserving the cultural heritage of the Ukrainian people. It is these aspects that belong to the important and actual problems of historical and cultural science, where the leading category is historical and cultural memory and national identity. At the same time, the priority is an interdisciplinary integrative approach to the problem, which illuminates the national intellectual elite of the post-Hetman era as a systemic integrity, united by the following: the material and spiritual basis of its existence; political priority over other states, which was ensured by the corresponding legal status; common elements of socio-cultural psychology, which was based on awareness of its historical mission and protection of national cultural heritage. The methodology of the article is based on historical-chronological, biographical, genealogical, logicalgeneralizing, cultural and source studies methods.
Presenting main material. Already during the times of cultural and public activity, Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko were the object of increased attention of the contemporary society, which is reflected in literary, historical and archival sources, the press. These artifacts are a source for in-depth research. For more than 40 years, the Khanenkos have collected works of world art, which in total consisted of almost 3,000 books, 1,250 paintings by Rembrandt, Velázquez, Bellini, Van Dyck, Rubens, Titian, Jordans, etc., a collection of antique marble sculptures, Italian and Eastern ceramics, Persian miniatures,
unique enamel and glass products, ancient Chinese, Saxon and Meissen porcelain, weapons, icons, carpets, embroideries, antiques. The collection covered the most diverse types of artistic creativity of European and Eastern peoples.
At the end of the 90s of the 20th century, an era of restoration of historical memory and intensive development began in the history of the museum: in 1998, updated expositions of European art of the 14th–19th centuries were opened in the restored house of the Khanenkos. The independent Ukrainian state, highly appreciating the important contribution of the Khanenko couple to the development of the museum business in Ukraine, their educational and charitable activities, decided to return the name of the museum to the «Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko Art Museum» (since 1999), and the museum collections belong to the national treasuries of Ukrainian culture and art. In 2004, a permanent hall of «Sinai» icons of the VI–VII centuries was
opened in the house of the Khanenkos, and in 2006, the first large permanent exhibition of Asian arts in the history of the museum began in the neighboring building. It was in 2018 that an exposition of the arts of the ancient world was organized in the premises of «Khanenko cabinet» on the first floor of the building. Gifts from the 1990s and 2000s from patrons Halyna Shcherbak, Vasyl Novytskyi, and Oleksandr Feldman became valuable contributions to the museum's Asian collection.
Conclusions. The beginning of the 21st century intensified the scientific research of the collection and history of the Khanenko museum. A new philosophy and cultural practice of educational work and museum service is being formed, as well as a new inclusive direction is developing (programs and services for people with disabilities, mobility impairments, programs for the elderly, low-income families, etc.). In general, further research of the art collection, cultural, social and charitable activities of Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko needs to be deepened, as well as the discovery of new historicaldocumentary
and archival sources in Ukraine and abroad. There is also a need to constantly supplement the genealogical research of the Khanenko-Tereshchenko family tree with new historical facts and cultural materials.