Exhibitions

What connects the Belgian tram in Dnipro, the French mines of Kryvyi Rih, the Catholic church in Kamianske, and the Mennonite village of Mykolai-Pole in the Zaporizhzhia region? In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Eastern Ukraine and the Dnieper region became a major hub of European industrialization. Belgians, French, British, Germans, and Poles built factories and railways, launched enterprises, and established settlements here. Along with them came schools, hospitals, theaters, trams, and a new urban culture.

The outdoor exhibition "European Heritage of Donetsk and Luhansk" on St. Michael’s Square in Kyiv illuminated eastern Ukraine's rich, western-facing roots. Expanding on the documentary Eurodonbas, the installation showcased how late 19th- and early 20th-century European and American enterprises shaped cities like Lysychansk, Donetsk, and Mariupol into modern hubs long before Soviet rule. While Soviet revisionism erased this history and recent Russian aggression destroyed many surviving sites, the project remains a vital testament to the Donbas region’s deep European identity and the tragic cultural losses of the war.