The cozy estate at 9 Pankivska St., just as over a hundred years ago, enchants every visitor. The single exhibit—the Hrushevskyi House—from which the museum’s history began in 1992, remains its most valuable treasure, and the voice of its memory serves as a unique key to understanding the mission and concept of this restored historical landmark.

The museum’s exposition has been displayed since November 2006 in the memorial house purchased in 1908 by Mykhailo Hrushevskyi along with his wife, brother, and sister. The estate, located in the historic Pankivshchyna area in the heart of the renowned “Latin Quarter,” was consecrated with a Ukrainian myth. The property was enclosed by Pankivska, Mykilsko-Botanichna, and Tarasivska St.s. According to popular legend—though not officially confirmed—the St.s were named after members of the Cyril and Methodius community: Panteleimon Kulish, Mykola Kostomarov, and Taras Shevchenko. This widespread myth added a special national color to the estate.

This color was further emphasized by the six-story “family house” with an attic, built nearby, whose façade was decorated in the Ukrainian style by the talented architect and artist Vasyl Krychevskyi. It was a bold statement—Hrushevskyi wanted to highlight his unrestrained Ukrainian identity in this way. Thus, from 1909, a unique architectural work adorned with majolica colors stood in the center of Kyiv, proudly referred to by its owners as a “gift of beauty to Kyiv.” Not accepting the newly proclaimed independent Ukraine, in January 1918, Bolshevik forces deliberately shelled this magnificent house during their assault on Kyiv. A fire destroyed unique collections of Ukrainian antiquities, the library, and the historian’s archives.

Only the three-story wing survived, which had been favored since 1908 by Hrushevskyi’s brother Oleksandr and sister Hanna. The elder brother Mykhailo returned here from emigration, and now, in three rooms occupied by Mykhailo Hrushevskyi, his wife Maria, and their only daughter Kateryna from 1924–1931, the memorial apartment has been recreated, including the scholar’s study, the living room, and the daughter’s room. The foundation of the scientific concept of this unique exposition is based on the famous words of Taras Shevchenko: “We carry no grain of falsehood behind us.” Thus, the memorial apartment showcases exclusively the furniture and household items of the Hrushevskyi family.

His office is a unique museum reconstruction, it reappeared thanks to photographs from late 1929, which captured every corner of the historian’s home office. The true treasure of the scholar was his library—over 4,000 books—the third personal collection in his lifetime. Volumes of foundational historical works, periodicals, gift books with dedications, rare copies with the ink stamp “Mykhailo Hrushevskyi,” and sometimes entire encyclopedic sets—step by step—are “returning” to their place. The only ornament of the study was the floor clock, an original creation from the 1830s by Novhorod-Siverskyi master and former serf Khoma Shota.

The aroma of beloved coffee, enjoyed by the Hrushevskys in the cozy living room with family and friends, brings back the times of quiet conversations and caroling. Three generations of the close-knit family gaze from old photographs, with Mykhailo Serhiyovych as their hope and support.

The emotional centerpiece of the memorial exposition is the daughter’s room—the “first-rate star” of Hrushevskyi’s historical school. Two rarities are displayed: a photographic portrait of the historian, gifted by his students on his 60th birthday, and a painted portrait of Kateryna Hrushevska by Ivan Trush. These exhibits create a virtual dialogue between the closest souls and equal colleagues: father and daughter, teacher and student, who together contributed to the development of national scholarship—the future of Ukraine.

It was at 9 Pankivska St. in 1926 that Mykhailo Hrushevskyi wrote his short autobiography, the narratives of which are succinctly reflected in the historical-biographical exposition. The architectural and artistic solution of this section follows the so-called “Krychevskyi line,” uniting the museum into a cohesive ensemble. Here, visitors can explore personal documents, manuscripts, letters of the historian and his family, the most complete collection of M. Hrushevskyi’s works in Ukraine, his editorial publications, and a unique iconographic collection.