The Mykolaiv Regional Local History Museum plays a substantial role in the research, keeping and sharing of Tavrian painting, for in its collections is held a significant body of pictures by the first researcher of the painting, Yevhenia Bondarenko, works by the leading master Liubov Paraniuk, and a rushnyk created from her sketch (author: Alina Dobrokhlop).

An important stage in the spread of the painting was Yevhenia Bondarenko’s solo exhibition Paths to the Lyman, organised by the museum staff in 2008 for the artist’s eightieth anniversary. Seeing the lively interest of visitors in her work, the artist decided to give the institution more than fifty of her own pictures.

After the master’s death, memory of her continues to live, and her legacy remains at the centre of attention. Staff turn to the work of Yevhenia Bondarenko during events of many kinds. One of these was the art quest “Paths to the Lyman: the Studio of the Artist Yevhenia Bondarenko” in 2019.

The entry of Tavrian painting into the regional list of objects of intangible cultural heritage of the Mykolaiv Region in 2019 gave an impulse to new ideas. This is a time when additional research is conducted (a one-day reconnaissance in the village of Stara Zburivka, Kherson Region; the gathering of data from inhabitants of Ochakiv district; searches in archives), and discussions continue around terminology and the history of origin. Museum staff V. Cherniavskyi, S. Romanenko and Yu. Kotko take an active part in them.

At the end of 2021, within the partnership project “Tourism, Heritage, Creativity,” the NGO “Mykolaiv Development Fund” supported the museum’s initiative “Unknown Tavryka.” Despite the full-scale invasion, the project was successfully carried out: from sketches by N. Akulenko, souvenirs were created with prints of traditional patterns on clothing, and a ten-minute promotional film was shot. The results of the project and masterclasses in Tavrian painting by L. Zapisochnа were presented in Georgia.

Filming a video about Tavrian painting for the project “Tourism, Heritage, Creativity,” 2023

In 2023 a standing exhibition of works by Yevhenia Bondarenko, On the Waves of Tavrian Painting, was created in the museum; tours, lectures and masterclasses take place on its base. In order to conduct them, Olha Zaitseva, senior research fellow of the exhibition department, completed in 2024 a training course in the technique of the painting at the Public Organisation “Adult Learning and Education Center ‘South’.”

Masterclass by L. Paraniuk at the museum, 2024

Through the interaction of PO “ALEC ‘South’” with the museum and with other institutions of the region, significant results were reached in advancing Tavrian painting at the national level.

N. Hromova, R. Sikalenko, S. Romanenko and N. Sapak (online). Discussion of survey forms and the filling-in of the ICH record card, 2025

The master Liubov Paraniuk cooperates actively with the institution. She took part in the design of the hall “Settlement of the Land,” painting the walls of the “museum house” with ancient ornaments. And in 2025 her solo exhibition Blue Symphony of Tavrian Painting became an important milestone in the cultural life of the community. More than sixty exhibits were shown: pictures, painting on wood, cloth and ceramics, which are a witness of inspiration and of a deep love of the original art of the Mykolaiv Region. The artist gladly answers every museum initiative bound to the spread of the painting.

L. Paraniuk during the painting of the museum house, 2024

In this way the museum continues to remain a centre of research and sharing of a deep folk tradition — Tavrian painting.

At the opening of L. Paraniuk’s solo exhibition at the Mykolaiv Regional Local History Museum, 2025