Museum “Partyzanska Iskra”

The “Partyzanska Iskra” (literally: Guerilla Spark) Museum was opened in 1965 at the initiative of its founder, Ivan Gerasymenko, a member of the underground youth organization Partyzanska Iskra.

1985, after 20 years of operation, the Museum underwent reconstruction under the design authored by Oleh Stukalov, Borys Mykytenko, and Valery Shvetsov, graduates of the Kyiv Art Institute. The reconstruction ended in 1991 with the addition of a large exhibition space and a cinema hall and the erection of a monument to a young underground fighter standing against the background of granite pylons. Also, a stele near the mass grave was restored, and a young park was planted. After the reconstruction, the Museum was given the status of a memorial.

The Museum focuses on cultural and educational activities, awareness-raising work, bolstering the museum collection, and on-site exposition. Its main collection consists of 2,428 articles, and the auxiliary includes 1,676. The oldest museum items date from the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries.

The museum exposition is housed in two halls and displays photos of members of the underground organization, their personal belongings, such as clothes, school supplies, drawings, musical instruments, and sports equipment, and documents, such as report cards, certificates, and personal diaries. This gives visitors an idea of the members’ school years and pre-war lives. Samples of weapons, postcards, maps, letters, dioramas, and other exhibits bear evidence of their struggle in the occupied territory.

The exhibition hall delivers various annual exhibitions from the Museum’s stock, exhibitions of creative works of artists, photographers, amateur masters, and artists of the Pervomaysk district, and showcases pieces from the Mykolaiv Regional History Museum.

The Museum possesses a feature film, “Guerrilla Spark,” produced in 1957 by Oleksandr Dovzhenko Film Studio, with a script by Oles Honchar.