Museum of Ceramic Tiles and Sanitary Ware

The museum was founded on August 23, 2003.^[1][2] The collection has been assembled based on the principle of preserving items discarded during renovations of houses or rooms.^[3] Some of the preserved items were donated by visitors themselves. The appearance in July 2005 of a ceramic stove made by the Vasyl Petrov factory sparked a public scandal.^[4] The museum took a stance in favor of preserving the artifact, while some members of the public opposed dismantling the old stove, which was a monument on the Shcherbynin family estate [uk]. Sofia Proskura commented on the situation:

The semi-destroyed building where the stove is stored will lead to—has already led to—the fact that only about half of the tiles from this stove remain. And of those 50%, ninety percent are semi-destroyed—they’ve lost their shine and appearance. If we leave them in this condition for another two or three months, the tiles will turn into a pile of rubble, a pile of clay, and nothing else will remain.^[3][4]

The museum’s collection consists of over 3,000 items.^[5] The core of the collection is made up of ceramic tiles.^[6] A large portion of the tiles were produced by the Bergenheim Society.^[5][7][8] Preserved items also include industrial art tiles designed by Vasyl Krychevsky.^[9] Other items include bricks, Italian and Spanish decorative friezes from the 20th century made with manual labor, a handmade plinfa brick by master Makostup with a chipped corner, various sanitary ware, and faience.^[10] Two full-sized ceramic stoves from the 19th century are also on display.^[11] The first dates back to 1894, from the Mogilev Governorate, the second dates to 1840, made by the Petrov Factory in Kharkiv.^[12]