Tower and Town, March 2023 (view the full edition)The Pysanka MuseumFor many years, the Museum of Easter egg decoration has been a visiting card of the town of Kolomyia, in the region of Ivano-Frankivsk. But let's start from the beginning. What is a decorated Easter egg - a 'pysanka'?
Ancient Ukrainians believed that the painted Easter egg would be beautiful if the woman who painted it did so when there was no one else around. Therefore, Easter eggs were most often made by a woman who was working on her own. No, you are not mistaken: in ancient times only women could paint Easter eggs. As with the pysanka, in the Ukrainian culture a woman is the personification of procreation and the beginning of a new life. Our ancestors gave such Easter eggs as a sign of peace and to wish each other beauty, strength and health. Currently, Ukraine has the only museum of Easter egg decoration in the world. The museum itself is in the shape of an enormous egg, and its collection includes more than 1,200 specimens. And the oldest pysanka is more than 500 years old. There you can see painted chicken, goose, ostrich, and even quail eggs. Ancient and modern, traditional and fantastical, these specimens were collected thanks to the efforts of Ukrainians from all over the world. And why? Because the Easter egg is a symbol of the sun's victory over darkness, of life over death. Yulia Martynova |
A pysanka is an egg painted with wax and natural dyes, and is one of the ancient forms of Ukrainian folk art. It is a raw egg with a decorative pattern which symbolises life, the revival of nature in springtime, procreation, the sun, warmth and fertility.