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Museum of Folk Arts of Sloboda Ukraine

Academician of Architecture A. Beketov designed a building for the Sunday school of K. Alchevska for free (now 9, Radnarkomivska St.). In 1896 the construction was completed. The school was attended by girls over the age of 10 and by adult women. Alongside the three R’s and the God’s Law, the school also provided classes in geography, painting and singing. Under K. Alchevska’s leadership, about 20,000 students graduated from the school within 50 years of her pedagogical activity. The name of Krystyna Alchevska, Vice-President of the International League of Education, is connected with the whole era in the development of the people’s school. After the revolution, the building of the Sunday school housed the Council of People’s Commissioners of Ukraine.

Now it is home to the Museum of Folk Arts of Sloboda Ukraine — a branch of Kharkiv Fine Arts Museum. Its collection includes the major kinds of the folk arts of Sloboda Ukraine — painting, embroidery, weaving, pottery, wickerwork, wood- and ivory-carving.

10, Radnarkomivska Street was designed by A. Beketov in 1897 for his own family, but in the early 20th century the building was sold to the Motor Club. In 1925 it became home to the House of Scholars, an organisation uniting over 2,000 scholars of the city. The House of Scholars is a site for lectures, seminars, disputes, concerts and exhibitions.