The director of the National Art Museum was removed from office

Minister of Culture Mikhail Kulynyak explained the reasons for the dismissal of Anatoly Melnik from the post of general director of the National Art Museum. The reason for this was errors in the financial management of the cultural institution, failure to meet planned attendance targets, as well as violation of the rules for storing icons. Mr. Melnik intends to appeal his dismissal in court.

The order to dismiss Anatoly Melnik from the post of general director of the National Art Museum (NHMU) was signed by Minister of Culture Mikhail Kulinyak on Thursday evening. The press service of the Ministry of Culture explained that Mr. Melnik was fired because he did not correct the shortcomings in the economic and financial activities of the museum, identified by the departmental commission. In particular, according to the Ministry of Culture, the plan for the number of visitors in 2011 was fulfilled by the National Art Museum only by 69.2%, which is the lowest figure among metropolitan museums. “To date, these indicators have not changed,” the press service clarified.

In addition, in March, specialists from the ministry and the National Research Restoration Center examined 39 icons of the 14th-17th centuries stored at the National Art Museum and came to the conclusion that 13 of them needed “conservation and restoration intervention” due to improper storage conditions.

Anatoly Melnik is convinced that the reason for his dismissal was the statement he made about the disappearance of paintings that were in the Cabinet of Ministers and belonged to the National Art Museum. As Mr. Melnik told Kommersant, we are talking about Nikolai Glushchenko’s paintings “Dnieper Distances,” “Sails on the Sea,” “Village by the River” and “On the Fishing Collective Farm,” written in 1937, 1951 and 1952. “In 2010, we asked the Cabinet of Ministers administration to allow us access to these paintings. Then we were refused,” Anatoly Melnik told Kommersant. “Last summer we still managed to gain access to the paintings, but it turned out that they were not there. Then all the paintings But they were found, they decided to return them to us, but we doubted the authenticity of the paintings “Dnieper Distances” and “Village by the River”, since we were presented with acts indicating that they had allegedly been returned to us earlier. We conducted an examination, which confirmed that the acts. fake." It should be noted that the insurance value of the painting “Dnieper Dali” is 560 thousand UAH, and “Village by the River” is 600 thousand UAH.

Mr. Melnik intends to appeal his dismissal in court. “In the absence of normal funding, we are doing everything we can. I will defend in court not so much myself as the museum staff, who were in fact groundlessly accused,” Mr. Melnik assured Kommersant.

The Ministry of Culture has announced a competition to fill the position of general director of the National Art Museum. And about. Tatiana Mironova, adviser to the Minister of Culture for relations with artistic organizations, owner of the Mironova Gallery, has been appointed general director. At the same time, the chairman of the board of the public organization "Ukrainian Center for the Development of Museum Affairs" Vladislav Pioro believes that the appointment of Mrs. Mironova raises questions. “It’s a mystery to me why exactly this person became the head of the museum,” Mr. Pioro told Kommersant. “According to the rules established by the International Council of Museums, a state museum cannot be headed by a person related to the art market and collecting works of art. Tatyana Mironova belongs to such circles.”

Vyacheslav Khripun

The dismissal was painted in paint