The history of Mykolaiv will be presented through 500 photos from museum archives

In Mykolaiv, more than 500 historical photos and negatives from three city museums will be digitized and made available in an open online archive. Among them are images of shipbuilding, the navy, city life, and family photos.

This was announced by the “Digital Heritage of Mykolaiv” project.

The digital collection will include materials from the Mykolaiv Regional Local History Museum, the Museum of Shipbuilding and the Navy, and the People’s Museum of the Mykolaiv Shipyard.

<picture></picture>Photo: “Mykolaiv Digital Heritage” project

These are photographs and negatives from the late 19th to the first half of the 20th century that were previously unavailable to the general public.

The project is titled “Mykolaiv Digital Photo Archive.” It is being implemented by the MY ART Platform in partnership with the Mykolaiv Development Agency, with support from the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation.

The photographs will shed light on the development of shipbuilding in Mykolaiv thanks to foreign investment in the early 20th century and on the origins of the Ukrainian fleet in the Black Sea during the struggle for independence.

<picture></picture><i>Experts are digitizing a collection of historical photographs from three museums in southern Ukraine. Photo: Mykolaiv’s Digital Heritage</i>

The materials also include scenes of everyday life in the city, photo archives of industrial enterprises in the region from the Soviet period, and family photo archives of residents of Mykolaiv and southern Ukraine.

Project manager Yevhen Homonyuk explained why it is important to digitize old photographs right now.

“Today, when our culture is under constant threat due to a brutal war, creating digital copies of museum exhibits is a matter of preserving our memory,” noted Yevhen Homonyuk.

According to him, thanks to digitization, unique artifacts from southern Ukraine are becoming accessible to the public—every new image posted online provides an opportunity to view and explore the past around the clock.

Experts will select, describe, catalog, and digitize 500 photographic prints and negatives. All materials will be posted on the bilingual website “Digital Heritage of Mykolaiv” in Ukrainian and English.

Ірина Глухова