Professor Eduard Balahuri Archaeological Museum of UzhNU
It is a well known fact that Uzhhorod National University trains high-quality specialists. A lot of effort is put into it by the academic staff of the university. The role of material and technical resources and the library fund is also important in reaching the goal. However, we shouldn’t forget about the importance of those research units where students can acquire practical skills including laboratories, research centers and, of course, museums. One of them is Professor E.Balahuri Archaeological Museum of UzhNU.
Its history began in 2004. A new structural unit was headed on a voluntary basis by the assistant professor of the Department of Ancient History and Middle Ages Ihor Prokhnenko. At first, its artifacts were kept in archaeological and university laboratories and were not available to the public. After ten years of its existence, the museum was allocated a spacious room to showcase its exhibits.
There are about a thousand artifacts belonging to different periods of time and nations including tools, weapons, crockery and decorations which reflect the history and culture of the ancient population of Transcarpathia (from ancient times to the late Middle Ages).
The exhibition hall is divided into seven units. Here you can see the objects of the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, the epoch of Hallstatt and La Tène culture, see Dacian antiquities, Transcarpathia in late Roman times (II - IV century AD) and antiquities of the V - XII century AD, which have been accumulated since the early 70-ies of the twentieth century when the university began to conduct annual archeological studies.
According to the director of the archaeological museum Volodymyr Moyzhes, the majority of museum exhibits represent the Dacian culture (I century BC – I century AD), elements of which were found during archaeological excavations in village Mala Kopanya of Vynohradiv district. "This hall is also used for seminars and lectures. Last year a new speciality - archeology - was opened at the Faculty of History and the museum provides an opportunity for students to see the exhibits, which extremely improves the learning process. All the artifacts were found on the territory of Transcarpathia and there are about 750 of them,"- says the director of the museum.
From time to time the collection of the Archaeological Museum is replenished with the new exhibits, brought from other specialized institutions of Ukraine, incidental findings or gifts. "One of the most recent and very valuable replenishments is a medieval sword (XIII – beginning of XIV century), which was found in Rakhiv district," - says Mr. Moyzhes.
A separate and very valuable showcase of the exhibition hall is dedicated to the famous archaeologist, Professor Eduard Balahuri, who is considered to be the founder of the archaeological school of Uzhhorod National University.
The museum is visited by over a thousand people a year. About 15-20 seminars, lectures and meetings are held here annually. Its visitors are students, schoolchildren, foreign and Ukrainian guests of the University and the Faculty of History and others.
At present, the Archaeological Museum of UzhNU is an important and unique university unit. Its collection is amazing and it is regularly visited by scientists from around the world. According to its director Volodymyr Moyzhes, the plans for this year are not extensive, but important. "First of all, we would like to increase the the number of visitors and draw attention to our museum. I believe, that every educated person should know the history of their region. Our museum is a great place to study it."
