Iryna Meleshkina is dedicated to preserving Ukraine’s theatrical heritage. A researcher, historian, and deputy director of the Museum of Theatre, Music and Cinema Arts, she decided not to leave Kyiv after the full-scale invasion began. What kept her in the capital were the urgent need to safeguard the museum's vast collections — and her husband, renowned art historian Dmytro Horbachov.  Her husband refused to leave their home. “The museum holds over a quarter of a million items! The largest collection of Ukrainian scenographic avant-garde in Ukraine.” “The main task is to preserve them,” says Iryna Meleshkina, who has worked at the museum for more than half her life — since 1981.

She recalls that in 2022 they had major plans, as it marked the 100th anniversary of the founding of the famous art association “Berezil” in Kyiv, led by Les Kurbas. They intended to mark the date with large-scale public events. But after February 24, 2022, the museum's operations were completely reformatted. They moved online.

“Even before the war, we had launched an online platform called OpenCourbas, which brings together everything related to the “Berezil” Theatre and Les Kurbas,” Iryna explains. The platform features many rare materials —

a format the museum was forced to adopt due to the war. Through online resources, they aim to expand their audience and communicate with visitors and viewers who are far away, but who are interested in Les Kurbas and the history of Ukrainian theatre. “We now have a large number of online lectures on the museum’s YouTube channel, and they are quite popular. There are also lectures available on the OpenCourbas platform,” the researcher explains, adding that the museum is currently working on digitizing unique historical photographs preserved in its collections.

As for her personal pain during the war, Iryna’s parents lived in the front-line city of Mykolaiv. The war hastened my father's death, Iryna says: “When an elderly person loses their footing, all illnesses worsen. All of this has had a terrible impact on life — I think on every Ukrainian family”.