Lecture Series — Burgher Costume of Ukrainian Cities in the 19th Century
The Maryna Ivanova Museum announces a cycle of eight lectures on burgher fashion of Kyiv, Lviv, Odesa, Chernivtsi in the 19th century — a forgotten layer of Ukrainian urban culture.
In February 2026 the Maryna Ivanova Museum opens a new lecture cycle 'Burgher Costume of Ukrainian Cities in the 19th Century'. Lectures are held every Thursday at the museum and broadcast online via the museum website. The programme consists of eight themes: Kyiv — the governor-general's court and Podil merchant class; Lviv — the Austrian period and Galician bourgeoisie; Odesa — a cosmopolitan port city; Chernivtsi — Bukovinian intelligentsia; Kharkiv — university professoriate; Katerynoslav — mining-industrial elite; Poltava — zemstvo activists; synthesis — Ukrainian identity in urban costume.
The special accent of the lecture series is the refutation of the imperial myth about the 'absence' of Ukrainian urban culture in the 19th century. Lecturers show: burgher costume of Kyiv and Chernivtsi was a full-fledged part of the all-European fashion stream, adapting Parisian, Viennese, Warsaw trends to Ukrainian practice (an embroidered shirt under a frock coat, plakhta-skirt in working dress, ochipok in a Sunday ensemble). The exposition of original exhibits is in the main hall. Registration is open, maximum forty participants per session.
