Museum Division of Lviv National Gallery of Arts named after B.G. Voznitsky was inaugurated on September 15, 1990 in honor of the leaders of the socio-cultural group “Russian Trinity”, one of the most significant achievements of which was the publication in 1837 of the first Ukrainian folklore and literary almanac “The Mermaid of the Dniester”.

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“Mermaid of the Dniester” — a monument of the era of romanticism, the first glimpse of new literature in modern Western Ukrainian lands, contributed to raising the spirit of the people, awakened its social and national consciousness, strengthened faith in the future. The authors of the collection, the leaders of the “Russian Trinity” — Markian Shashkevych, Ivan Vagilevych and Yakov Golovatskyi — abandoned the outdated Church Slavonic book tradition, Cyrillic spelling and font, replacing them with a living colloquial Ukrainian language, “gradanzhdanzhda font and phonetic spelling.

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The spirit of inter-Slavic reciprocity, innovative content, exaltation of the liberation struggle, poetization of folk heroes, feats of Cossacks, affirmation of ethnic and spiritual communion of Galicians with all Ukrainian people caused a censorship ban on the publication. The main part of the order was confiscated, the almanac was included in the list of prohibited literature in Vienna. The settlers were subjected to political persecution, which negatively affected their lives.

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Despite the ban, “The Mermaid of the Dniester” outlined national landmarks, initiated the creation of a new Ukrainian literature, established the equal place of the Ukrainian people among other Slavic peoples, and served the pan-Slavic national-cultural revival.

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The museum-reserve is located in the premises of the former bell tower of the Church of the Holy Spirit — a monument of late Baroque architecture, which is directly connected with the history of the almanac “Mermaid of the Dniester”. The sacral building, which does not exist today, was built in 1722—1729 at the expense of Theophilia Vyshnevetska as the Church of Catherine of Siena Female Dominican Convent. As a result of the church reform of the Austrian government in the early 1780s, the monastery was liquidated. In 1783 its premises were transferred to the newly created General Greek-Catholic Theological Seminary, in which the authors of “Mermaids of the Dniester” studied.

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In September 1939, as a result of shelling by German aircraft, the monastery and the church were destroyed. The surviving bell tower with a baroque finish, built according to the project of M. Urbanica in the 1740s—1750s. The unique clock, which still complements the tower, was installed in 1786 at the request of the then rector of the seminary, M. Schavynsky. This watch was presented to the monastery of Skit by the Hetman of Ukraine Ivan Vygovsky in the XVII century.

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In 1980, architect V. Logvin completed the project of restoration and adaptation of the Svyatodukhiv bell tower for the exhibition space of the Lviv Art Gallery. Museification of the building took place in 1981. In 1986, on the occasion of the 175th anniversary of the birth of M. Shashkevych came up with the idea to create a Museum of one book in the bell tower — “Mermaids of the Dniester”.

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The researchers of the Gallery of M. worked on the development of the first exposition of the museum. Vidashenko, S. Malets, I. Shapirko and the artists of the Lviv Works of the Art Fund of Ukraine N. Prokopovich, O. Nikita, O. Skop, B. Smolsky. The construction and restoration work was carried out by specialists of the Institute “Ukrzakhidproektrestavratsia”.

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Today, repair work continues in the exhibition halls, where the updated exposition of the Museum of National Cultural Revival will soon be opened.

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