Kyiv Collector Opens ‘Sister’ Historical Costume Museum in Barcelona

The owner of a Ukrainian early modern costume museum in Kyiv is opening a sister museum in Barcelona, Spain.

The opening will take place on Saturday, Aug. 30, in the heart of Barcelona, at Carrer de la Junta de Comerç, 17.

The museum will feature items from a collection that has been created by Victoria Lysenko over the last eight years or more.

Victoria, who is originally from Cherkasy, opened her Victoria Museum in Kyiv in 2017 as a private museum of costume and style of the 19th to early 20th centuries. The collection consists of original dresses, accessories, household items, and art purchased in Europe and America. It was the first institution in Ukraine specializing in the history of costume.

In 2022, it was nominated for the prestigious European Museum of the Year award.

Today, the Victoria Museum in Kyiv is a space where the past is felt through fabrics, cuts, and details that have survived centuries.

Victoria told Kyiv Post: “For me, the Kyiv Museum is like an eldest son: he was born in a difficult time, but it was thanks to him that I found my vocation as a collector. It is a place where my personal search has turned into a cultural mission.”

And she explains that the new Barcelona Museum “is like a younger daughter. She was born from a dream, and the faith and courage to start from scratch in a new country. Within its walls, I see mirrors of time: they reflect both the beauty of the past and my personal path.”

Indeed, Victoria’s Barcelona space is not only an extension of the Kyiv Museum, but also a new cultural scene where the Ukrainian collection enters into a dialogue with Europe. It preserves its intimacy and at the same time is open to the world, which makes the museum an ambassador of Ukrainian culture abroad.

Victoria adds: “The history of both museums is a story of heredity and new beginnings. Kyiv and Barcelona, two important cultural points on the map, will be connected by one “string of pearls” – the Victoria Museum.”