Ugryhiv Museum named after the Marchak Family, Kalush

The villages of Stary Ugryhiv and Seredni Ugryhiv appeared on the map of Ukrainian lands almost simultaneously - the first written mentions date back to the mid-15th century. Some scholars derive their name from the name of the Ugric tribes. There is an opinion that the name could have originated from the surname of the nobleman Ugryhivskyi.

During the celebrations dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the OUN Leader, National Hero of Ukraine, native of Stary Ugryhiv Stepan Bandera, an ethnographic room-museum named after the Marchak Family was opened in a previously empty room of the village club, where various artifacts, utensils, embroidered towels, napkins, shirts, blouses, that is, family relics of many generations of Ugryhiv residents were collected. Prior to that, interesting artifacts from the past of the Ugryhiv community were accumulated and stored in village libraries, whose heads Halyna Vorobets and Olha Perehinak also engaged in recording memories and compiling albums on the history of Ugryhiv. The initiative of the village head to establish a new institution was supported by local cultural workers, local residents actively participated in the collection of future exhibits, and the corresponding decision was unanimously approved by the deputies of the village council.

Actually, Seredni Ugryhiv is known to the patriotic public thanks to the activities of priest o. Volodymyr Marchak – the rector of the local Greek Catholic Church of Archangel Michael in the 1930s. The Marchak family glorified Seredni Ugryhiv far beyond the borders of Prykarpattia. Thus, the newly established museum was named after the Marchak family by the decision of the village council.

o. Volodymyr Marchak (born 1884, village Bila, Stryi district – 1942, village Nyniv Dolishnii). He graduated from the theological academy in Rome. He was a priest in the villages of Balychi and Hirne in the Stryi district (1907-1910), Ser. Ugryhiv (1910-1935). He maintained close ties with the family of o. Andrii Bandera. Vasyl Marchak (1909, village Balychi, Stryi district) – a Ukrainian public figure. He graduated from Lviv Gymnasium. Founder and conductor of village choirs, youth societies at the reading rooms of “Prosvita” in Ser. Ugryhiv (1928-1935) and Nyniv Dolishnii (1936-1939). In 1939-1941 - in Krakow. A volunteer of the Ukrainian Division “Halychyna”. He emigrated to Germany, and then to the USA. Soloist of the Ukrainian Choir in Detroit (dir. V.Kolesnyk), an activist of the People's House, UGCC community.

Roman Marchak (1912, village Seredni Ugryhiv – March 1942, city Zhytomyr) – regional leader of the OUN in Zhytomyr region (pseudonym “Morhun”). He graduated from a trade school in Lviv. He studied at the law faculty of Lviv University. Member of the Northern March Group of the OUN (1941).

From a historical point of view, Ugryhivshchyna is an extraterritorial phenomenon, as besides Ugryhiv itself, there are Ugryhiv centers across Western Ukraine, where more than ten thousand people live in total. Understanding this "Ugryhiv phenomenon" is not easy, but we will try, perhaps for the first time, to analyze numerous testimonies and sources on this unexpectedly interesting topic for a deeper self-awareness of our roots.

Ugryhivshchyna in the modern sense is an area (60 thousand sq. km.) located in the south of Kalush and the north of Rozhniativ districts, Ivano-Frankivsk region. Here are located villages that bear (or once bore) the name Ugryhiv: Stary Ugryhiv, Seredni Ugryhiv, former Novyi Ugryhiv, Ugryhiv-Sloboda, Vyzhnyi Ugryhiv (now Petranka), connected by a common origin of the population, which currently numbers almost 5 thousand people.

In recent years, contacts between Ugryhiv communities have significantly intensified. A number of large-scale cultural and mass events have been held (for example, the annual "Ugryhiv Festivals", mutual exchange of delegations, sports competitions, etc.), and a number of promising social and economic projects for the future have been initiated. One of the most important joint efforts was the opening of a museum room in the premises of the People's House of Seredni Ugryhiv, which has already grown into the Ugryhiv Museum named after the Marchak Family (a patriotic family of priests). Here, interesting local antiquities have been collected: rare photographs, documents, church attributes, household items that testify to the original historical path of the microregion "Ugryhivshchyna". The museum's funds are being replenished with materials from sister villages, which will allow in the future to turn this institution into a real center for the revival of the unique historical and ethnographic community.

The Ugryhiv Museum is expected to receive a new impetus for development through the implementation of the project by Nataliia Drapuli “Creation of a youth tourist center in the native village of S. Bandera”, which became one of the winners of the all-Ukrainian competition and received support from the President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko. Partially, the goals of the museum organizers were achieved during the implementation of projects funded by the Department of Tourism of the Ivano-Frankivsk Regional State Administration and the Western Ukrainian Resource Center in 2009.

The museum organizers invite local historians, researchers, students, and schoolchildren to cooperate in collecting memories, photographs, documents with testimonies about the repressions of the occupying regimes and about the heroic struggle of Kalush patriots for Ukraine's independence. Contact persons: Nataliia Tymkiv, Ihor Vynnyk, Tetiana Fedoriv.

The first heads of the museum were Olha Perehinak, Nataliia Tymkiv. Since the official state registration (October 2010), Kristyna Petrych has been appointed as the director of the museum. With the participation of the museum, a number of cultural and mass events have been prepared and held in honor of prominent fellow countrymen: Stepan Bandera, members of his family, Hryhorii Perehinak - commander of the First Hundred of the UPA in Volhynia, Roman Marchak - leader of the OUN in Zhytomyr region, Vasyl Kostiiv (“Verkhovynets”) - a prominent folklorist, composer, Mykola Saievych - an educator, scientist, and captain of the UGA, etc. Materials on the history of "Ugryhivshchyna" have been collected and published, several issues of the "Ugryhiv Chronicle" have been released, community symbols (coat of arms, flag, anthem) have been developed, existing monuments and landmarks in the villages have been registered, and work is underway to promote them.

It is planned to create branches of the museum in each of the villages that bear the name Ugryhiv in different regions of Western Ukraine, and to hold a scientific-practical conference.

Materials from the Ugryhiv Museum named after the Marchak Family can be viewed daily from Tuesday to Friday from 12 to 16 hours in the premises of the People's House of Seredni Ugryhiv (Shevchenka St., 123, 2nd floor).