The exhibition “Sataniv: The Lost World of the Ancient Jewish Cemetery” was presented in the pavilion of the Museum of Genocide “Territory of Memory” (Odesa), organized with the support of Museum “Jewish Memory and Holocaust in Ukraine” and the United Jewish communities of Ukraine. The author of the exhibition is local historian, historian, traveler and journalist Dmytro Polyukhovich (Horodok, Khmelnytskyi region). The exposition presents 25 unique images of matzos from the Sataniv Jewish cemetery - one of the oldest in Ukraine.

The visitors of the exhibition were greeted by a Ukrainian public figure, historian, lawyer, candidate. of Philosophical Sciences, Honored Worker of Culture of Ukraine, director of the Museum of Genocide Pavlo Kozlenko. He emphasized the relevance of studying the heritage of the Jewish people, who have long lived on Ukrainian lands and created a distinctive culture here. Research associate of Museum “Jewish Memory and Holocaust in Ukraine”, candidate of historical sciences Olena Ishchenko revealed the semantic richness of the images in the context of the Jewish burial tradition. After all, thanks to the preserved epitaphs and artistic images, it is possible to learn not only the names of the buried, but also the social status, even the personal qualities of the deceased. Symbolic zoomorphic images help to reveal the deep meaning hidden by the ancient masters, which goes back to the texts of the Torah and the Talmud.

The first guests of the exhibition were Odesa local historians, leaders of youth studies studying the history of their native region. People who are in love with history and artistic creativity were able to properly appreciate the painstaking work of the author of the exhibition, which combined the ancient art of stone carving, modern processing technologies and personal professionalism. Guests asked about the meaning of each zoomorphic image – lion, hare, fox, bear, unicorn, deer, snake, and were amazed at the uniqueness of each matzevah (the decor presented on the tombstones is a masterpiece of stone carving art, and it is almost impossible to find two identical images). There was a long-lasting conversation about the preservation of Jewish cemeteries in Odessa, the region and – more broadly – in Ukraine…