“...Due to the Philanthropic Divine Providence I Came to the Saved by the God City which is Called Lviv”, Ivan Fedorov wrote, having left us the detailed recital of how printing-house had been created there

It would seem the seal of the God’s benediction lies on this name because under the rule of any governments and political systems the activity of the first printer Ivan Fedorov has been forever marked in the school textbooks. However, in Lviv the museum which carried its name and was located in the apartment of Onufriyev monastery dated 1977, was renamed to the Museum of Old Ukrainian Book Art and in1996 it was “settled” in the barrack of Metrostroi. And presently it is walked around by not only tourists but also by citizens of Lviv, that is how this building does not look like the cultural establishment. The museum is rescued by regular and reliable visitors - the pupils who are brought there by teachers.

As soon as I together with the press-photographer stepped over the threshold of the dark carriage like apartment of the museum, in the corridor the echo of squeak of doors and our steps was heard. We felt guilty for that we violated the silence of oppressive grey-green corridors. We began to feel discomfort and unpleasant. But then, fortunately, the manager of the museum Larysa Spasska went out.

– Do not surprise to such echo – this effect is created by brick from which the building is built. It was built as a temporal apartment of Metrostroi, but it has served to us for already 14 years, – L. Spasska explained. – Unfortunately, we are not in a position to reconstruct it. Because, as it turned out, there are no documents about the presence of this building, it was not mentioned in the technical plan of Lviv for a long time; consequently, there are no documents that we rent it. Because then, in 1996, the City Council passed it to us temporally, till the beginning of underground streetcar building. This document has not been found so far. Therefore, the Lviv gallery of arts, which we belong to, can not begin the reconstruction of the museum: it is not present in the paper. Only now the City Council is to make decision about the leasing of Metrostroi building to the museum. Therefore, then we will make an attempt to reconstruct it pursuant to the modern requirements.

The collection of the Museum of Old Ukrainian Book Art has 12 thousand exhibits, among them there are handwritten and black-letter books, Ukrianka dated the ХІХ–ХХ centuries. Manuscripts, incunabulas, first published books – these all books are altar, Gospel. There it is possible to examine and look through the pages of pre Fedor narrow print Gospel, books which were printed by Ivan Fedorov in Lviv: “Apostle”, “ABC-book”, “Ostrozka Bible”, “Trebnyk” by Petro Mogyla and many others.

–     Are these books alive or dead? – I asked Larysa Spasska.

When they are on the shelves and nobody is interested in them - they seem to fall asleep. And when they are taken by the hands of scientists and are explored and read, as it was done by father Raphael Turkunyak, who has recently translated Ostrozkyi Gospel into modern Ukrainian language, these books come back to life. But they come back to life insofar as your consciousness is ready to perceive what is written there. When I read, I do not see and understand texts as, for example, father Raphael. There is an energy exchange between divine books and a man who comes in contact with them. And each of us gets what from the book suits him, – great secrecy of the God’s word. In fact, divine books are written with metaphors, and this is visual thinking. And to what extent a man is able to operate it, to that extent necessary information he will get.

Mariya KUKHARUK