Hetmanship Museum 
Address: 16-b, Spaska Str., Kiev
Phone: +38 (044) 4161713.
Opening Hours: 10:00 - 17:00
Closed on Friday.
Hetmanship Museum appeared at the beginning of 1990th. It was one of the first museums devoted to the history of Ukraine in its "forbidden" perspective: the exhibition told about Ivan Mazepa, Pylyp Orlik and Pavlo Skoropadskiy, previously called "traitors of the Ukrainian people,"; about Bogdan Khmelnitskiy - not only as the vassal of the Moscow tsar, but also as a multifaceted politician, aspired to the true independence of his native land.
The Museum is situated in a remarkable architectural monument of the late XVII century, known in Kiev as “the house of Hetman Ivan Mazepa” (although Hetman never lived there). The House, which survived the fire of Kiev’s Podil in 1811, is one of the oldest civil buildings in Kiev.
The current exhibition includes more than 6000 items. Four halls of the museum are devoted to Mazepa, Orlik, Khmelnitsky and Skoropadsky. The first room is dedicated to Ivan Mazepa (ruled in 1689-1709). Here are baroque engravings in honor of Hetman, and photos of churches that Mazepa generously raised throughout Ukraine. Things of Cossack life of Mazepa’s era are nearby: sabers, a small gun and powder flask. Then, a spiral staircase leads to the exposition of Bogdan Khmelnitsky (1648-57). All-wall big canvas of artist Andrew Yuhimets tells about life of the Hetman at Zaporozhskaya Sech, his relationship with the colonels and the clergy. Next to the picture there is a gonfalon with the family emblem of Khmelnytsky, which, according to investigators, confirms that the Hetman was from the Ukrainian gentry.
The next room is devoted to Pylyp Orlik, the first Ukrainian Hetman in expulsion, the author of the first Ukrainian Constitution (in 1711 - this document was composed 65 years before the American Constitution).
The memorial hall dedicated to Pavlo Skoropadsky (ruled in April-December 1918) is pride of the Museum. This is the only permanent exhibition of the famous politician in Ukraine. Things from the personal collection of Skoropadsky family, autographs of S. Petlura, battle honors of troops of UNR, numerous documents and photographs of that time are among the exhibits. Most of the items for the exhibition were granted by daughter of the Hetman, Elena Skoropadskaya, who lives in Switzerland now.
