Ukraine's leading English-language newspaper since 1995

While serving a wide number of purposes, museums are generally considered the repository of some portion of a country’s patrimony.

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In view of the fact that Ukraine has undertaken a massive increase in its emphasis on tourist development, it is very difficult to understand an action that has been suggested as one option to support Ukraine’s neglected and under-funded museums.

Following a presidential order on the development of the tourism industry, the State Tourism Administration together with the Ministry of Culture is working on a bill that is designed to benefit Ukrainian museums. However, the method of funding the museums is a self-help program that is meeting with considerable negative reaction.

The new law is being designed around the idea that museums would be able to sell those parts of their collections that are less “rare” and use the money to maintain museum facilities.

There are potentially other solutions rather than the collection sell-off idea. For example, many of the world’s top museums do a very profitable business in selling top quality replicas of some of their most popular or important collection items.

Also, most museums depend on both financial and personnel assistance from support groups made up of citizens.

This appears to be an opportunity for creative thinking - and hard work - on the part of the museums to come up with new ideas that attract more visitors - and more donations - to make it possible to avoid the sell-off ideas that seem to have come into vogue with the government.

Government sources say the museum sell-off bill has not yet been written so there may still be time to have a favorable impact on the situation before the less desirable elements of this idea are written into law.