The bright end of the holiday: what did the «Night of Museums — 2023» in Chersonese Tauride remember

Every year in the second half of May Tauric Chersonesos opens its doors to visitors of the All-Russian action «Night of Museums». This year, more than ten thousand Sevastopol residents and guests of the city became its participants. Consonant with the Year of the Teacher and Mentor, the theme of festive events — «History and Stories» — resonated in the hearts of visitors to the museum-reserve and allowed them to get acquainted with famous philosophers, poets and thinkers of the past. The main performance unfolded on three sites — ships surfing the waves of history.

Under a white sail in the Antique Theater, Aristotle led his lofty speeches, surrounded by muses. From the deck of the ship «The Beginning of Beginnings», he invited the public to reflect on who a person is, what is his fate and destiny. On the stage of the Antique Theatre, the patroness of the arts, the muses, began to dance, and the beautiful and talented artists delighted the guests of the Night of Museums in Chersonese with opera arias and dance performances.

In the Byzantine courtyard, symbolizing a ship under blue sails, heading towards the Middle Ages, the revived poet, thinker and humanist Francesco Petrarch, together with the audience, unraveled the riddle of love — a feeling that overcomes any obstacles. String and violin quartets, arias from operas and fragments from ballets harmoniously complemented the sound of the sonnets, immersing the guests in an atmosphere of beauty and introducing them to the lofty ideals of the past.

The third stop on the cruise on the waves of history was the main square of the ancient city, over which stretched scarlet sails. From the deck of the ship “Love. Faith. Strength of mind. Dreams” Russian philosophers addressed the public, telling about exploits and beauty, courage and self-sacrifice, freedom and choice. On the observation deck near St. Vladimir’s Cathedral, the guests were surprised and delighted by the battles of heroes and acrobatic performances, opera compositions, old romances and folk dances.

Throughout the journey through the centuries, visitors to the museum-reserve could try their hand at the most interesting master classes. The children especially enjoyed making puppets and learning calligraphy, and adults appreciated the opportunity to be blacksmiths, tanners, jewelers or glassblowers. Visitors to Chersonese of all ages felt like performers of medieval dances, whirling to the sound of music in the unique atmosphere of the ancient city.

Two new exhibitions were particularly popular during the Night of Museums. In the exhibition «The Spiritual World of Ancestors in the Petroglyphs of Kamennaya Mohyla», visitors saw rock carvings with scenes of hunting goats and mammoths, reproductions of petroglyphs on the vaults of caves, household items of ancient peoples, ceramics and tools of the Stone Age. At the exhibition “Mysteries of Ancient Necropolises”, the guests of the museum-reserve learned about the ritual traditions and rituals of the Chersonesites in that distant era, examined rare jewelry and other unique artifacts. Researchers of the cultural institution, who conducted tours of the new expositions, helped the visitors to get acquainted with the great heritage of the past.