Chernihiv Regional Youth Library
To stand for almost a century and a half, witness many amazing events, and then be destroyed by shelling at a time when wars in Europe seem impossible. This is the story of the library in Chernihiv, a city in northern Ukraine.
At the end of the 19th century, the library hosted classrooms for orphans. Later on, it became the Russian Empire's first and only Ukrainian museum. Vasyl Tarnovskyi, a philanthropist and collector, donated his collection of Ukrainian antiquities to the city of Chernihiv. It was decided to open a museum with a unique collection in this building, which had just been renovated in neo-Gothic style with pointed arches and pilasters being added.
Later, the museum of antiquities became the Chernihiv Historical Museum, and in 1978, a youth library was opened in the building. There were almost 62,000 publications in its inventory, it also hosted various hobby groups, an art center, an English club, and more. Take note of the word “were” and not “are”: the past tense in the previous sentence is no grammatical mistake.
This historical building survived two world wars, only to be destroyed by the Russian army. In March 2022, the invaders dropped a 500-kilogram aerial bomb on its yard, which destroyed the building's walls and ceiling along with thousands of books.