May 18, 2018 - With the donation of the painting "Prayer" by the famous painter and graphic artist Sergij Gnojovij to the Gallery of Solidarity, and the presentation of one of the most important cultural institutions from this Ukrainian city, the famous museum "Taras Shevchenko" officially marked the commencement of the partnership and exchange in the field of culture between Kiev and Kotor, as well as Ukraine and Montenegro.
The organizer of the meeting and the host to the museum's representatives from Taras Shevchenko was the Kotor Tourism Organization, and apart from the director Ana Nives Radovic and guests from Kiev, the president of Kotor, Vladimir Jokic, also spoke at the ceremony.
"This is the first step in establishing cultural cooperation between Kotor and Kiev, and in fact, this is the announcement of new projects, which we intend to realize on a cultural, artistic, scientific and business level. The initiative for this cooperation was made by Tatjana Koliščenko, who has been coming to Montenegro for several years and has been following cultural events," said Ana Nives Radović, director of TO Kotor, who was the organizer and host of the meeting.
"Tatjana Koliščenko selected Kotor from all the cities in Montenegro as the starting point for future cooperation between Ukraine and Montenegro. This is quite justified and stands to show that she is well informed about what Kotor represents in Montenegro if we are talking about the culture. We are grateful to the initiative and that the process of cooperation between the two countries in the field of culture started with the valuable donation from the museum 'Taras Shevchenko'. It is a museum dedicated to one of the greatest Ukrainian painters and poets of modernity from the beginning of the 19th century. The painting by Sergij Gnojovij, presented on this occasion to the Solidarity Gallery, has been part of the event for 200 years since this great artist was born.
This is one of the works that the Ukrainian Museum has donated to partner cities, museums and other cultural institutions, with which it continues the cultural cooperation. We have the honor and pleasure that the cultural cooperation of the two countries started in Kotor. We hope that in the future the two cities will be twin cities, which will mean cooperation not only in the field of culture but also in all other areas where the exchange is possible, which is Kotor's practice with twin towns. At this moment, we announce a series of other projects and processes that will result from the mutual acquaintance of our towns’ cultures," said Ana Nives Radovic
The Manager of the museum "Taras Shevchenko" from Kiev, Iulia Perestova, expressed gratitude for the reception organized by the Kotor Tourism Organization and the president of the Municipality, Vladimir Jokic, as well as satisfaction for future cultural cooperation.
"The museum 'Taras Shevchenko' organizes not only art and literal exhibitions of our great artist but also exhibitions of artists who worked to mark some of his creativity and life. This is the case with the painting 'Prayer' which we gave to the gallery. The Taras Shevchenko Museum will celebrate 70 years of existence in the coming year, during which 90,000 exhibitions were organized both in-house and as guests all over the world."
In addition to the valuable donation to the Gallery of Solidarity and the presentation of the museum itself, Peresova used this opportunity to briefly present the work of Taras Shevchenko, both artistic and poetic and gave to hosts two copies of the collected poetry works by the great Ukrainian artist. There would be no cooperation between the two cities if it weren’t for the initiative by Tatjana Koliščenko, who was enchanted by Montenegro so much that she started the association ADRUM - Association for the Development of Relations between Ukraine and Montenegro.
"Our idea is to promote Ukraine in general, everything that is created in it, not only in the art but also in the business world and the spheres of potential market cooperation of our two countries. We are one of the largest countries in Europe with a population of 42 million citizens. We believe that this is a big market and that this potential can be exploited for various purposes," explains Tatjana Koliščenko about her initiative to establish the cooperation between the two countries.
"Citizens of Ukraine were very interested in visiting Montenegro last year. In that sense, we first discovered Budva, which is really beautiful, but we should keep looking for something completely different, which we do not have in Ukraine. One of my colleagues who is in the business of production and owns a production company that records over 100 movies a year stayed in Montenegro and filmed here. When she first visited Kotor, she was sad that she did not come here earlier, because she did not know about this place. It is precisely about this specificity of Kotor. Budva is beautiful, but it is more similar to the places we have, and we hope to have again on the Crimea, regarding the uniqueness of our country. Kotor is something that is completely different, unique and exceptional, and I am glad that establishing the cultural cooperation of the two countries has started right here. I want to give my native people a chance to meet this town and to enjoy its beauty," aays the ADRUM President.
"This is not just connecting Kiev and Kotor, but also Ukraine and Montenegro.”
The president of the Kotor municipality, Vladimir Jokic, thanked the initiative for the fruitful cooperation between Kiev and Kotor as well as for the valuable donation given to Kotor Solidarity Gallery:
"I thank the guests from Kiev, as well as the Kotor Tourism Organization and the Solidarity Gallery, which enabled a recognized cultural institution such as the Taras Shevchenko Museum to present the Kotor Public Institution of Museums and Galleries with such a valuable gift. On behalf of the Kotor Municipality and my name, I can say that this is the first step of cooperation between Kiev and Kotor on the cultural plan. Although Kiev has a population of a million citizens, and Kotor is a small municipality, their cultural significance is comparable to this part of Europe. I will say a few words about the fascination of Kotor, highlighted by the praised guest, Tatjana Koliščenko. I think the city that holds over 70 percent of the Montenegrin cultural heritage deserves to be the place where cultural cooperation between our two countries will start. Thank you very much to the representatives of the museum 'Taras Shevchenko' from Kiev, the TO Kotor and director Radović, OJU Museums and galleries Kotor and its director Kovačević," concluded the president of the Kotor Municipality, Vladimir Jokić.
