12/05/2025
The Museum of Karaite History and Culture is the only center of the Karaite community in Ukraine.
Among the several Karaite communities founded in the Middle Ages on the territory of modern Ukraine, one resided in Halych. For over seven hundred years, Karaites lived here, having their own street, a kenesa (prayer house), and a zeret (cemetery).
The adherents of this people practice Karaism, an Abrahamic religion related to Judaism but also significantly distinct from it. In particular, they recognize the absolute authority of the Torah (the Tanakh) and believe that it cannot be supplemented. Hence, they reject the Talmud. According to Karaite doctrine, the Old Testament must be read and interpreted personally by every faithful individual. Ultimately, the very term "Karaite" translates to "Readers."
Karaites are a small Turkic-speaking indigenous people of Ukraine whose representatives adhere to Karaism, a religious teaching based on the Old Testament and rejecting the Talmud. It formed in the 8th century in Baghdad, in the Mesopotamian territories. The founder of the religion is Anan ben David, who believed that the Old Testament is perfect and requires neither changes nor additions. The Karaite language belongs to the Kipchak group of Turkic languages. The sacred language is considered to be Leshon ha-Kodesh, biblical Hebrew, the language of the Torah.
A parchment scroll of the Karaite holy book, the Torah, seven-branched candelabra (menorahs), the prayer shawl of the hazzan (spiritual leader of the Karaites), memorial books, and seals of the kenesa – just fifty years ago, these were objects of the living culture of the Karaite people, but now they represent only a memory of the past and are exhibits of the Museum of Karaite History and Culture.
The museum was opened on November 4, 2004, for the 10th anniversary of the creation of the "Ancient Halych" National Reserve, in a former residential Karaite house from the end of the 19th century, located in the city center, on Christmas Square. This is a unique tribute to those people who did not leave the land that had been home to their small but proud people for 770 years.
Karaism penetrated the Khazar Khaganate in the 8th century, where it was adopted by the ruling elite.
In the 11th century, after the decline of the Khazar Khaganate, the Karaites of Crimea lived in the Kirk-Yer district near the city of Bakhchysarai.
According to one version, in 1246, several Karaite families moved from Crimea to Halych.
The Karaites settled in Halych near the Market Square, which was founded by Danylo Halytskyi, on the right bank of the Dniester River.
In Ukraine, Karaite communities existed in Halych, Lviv, Kukyziv, Lutsk, Derazhne, Zhovkva, Melitopol, Odesa, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Berdiansk, and others.
There are three versions of the emergence of the Karaite community in Halych. One of them states that the Karaites settled in these lands at the beginning of the 16th century during emigration from the Ottoman Empire.
The second tells of the resettlement of Karaites by Prince Vytautas at the end of the 14th century. According to the third version, 80 Karaite families arrived in Halych in 1246 after the negotiations between Prince Danylo Halytskyi and Khan Batu in 1243. This is evidenced by a colophon (an inscription on a parchment prayer book) that Yaroslav Dashkevych introduced into scientific circulation as a unique historical document of the 13th century about the beginnings of the Karaite settlement in Halych.
In 1830, a fire occurred in Halych that destroyed almost the entire city, and the wooden kenesa did not survive. Accordingly, handwritten Torah scrolls, prayer books, vital records, and inventories were also burned. The manuscript of the colophon also perished, but copies and translations made in the 19th century have been preserved.
The Galician Karaites are first mentioned in a charter of the Polish King Stefan Batory in 1578, in which he guaranteed the preservation of ancient rights and customs (the right to free trade on par with other residents of the city was granted).
Considering this document, which implies that the Karaites were guaranteed the preservation of their rights, it suggests that this community had lived in Halych long before the 16th century.
The privilege was confirmed in 1590 by Sigismund III and in 1666 by John II Casimir.
With the establishment of Austro-Hungarian rule in Halych, the Galician Karaites appealed to the government with a request to improve their conditions: the government reduced taxes and equalized their rights with Christians; military service was performed in sanitary units.
Karaites were quite influential in the urban environment of Halych. The history of their community began to be documented in detail from the beginning of the 18th century.
In total, about 200-300 Karaites lived in Halych. In the center of Karaite Street was the kenesa – a meeting house, the prayer house of the Karaites. Nearby, the People's House was built (1934), which housed a library, the "Revival" Karaite youth society, and the Karaite women's society. There was a midrash – a Karaite religious school.
For several decades, Karaite families carefully preserved thousands of artifacts at home. After the study of the Karaite heritage began in 1997 by researchers of the "Ancient Halych" National Reserve, they transferred over three thousand objects of material culture and two thousand documents to the funds of the future museum. In particular, the head of the Halych Karaite community, Yanina Yeshvovich, as well as a Karaite woman from Halych, Ada Zarakhovich, donated a parchment Torah scroll, handwritten prayer books, details of the interior of the Halych kenesa, Karaite periodicals, and rich archival materials. Today, the collection of the Karaite fund numbers about 3,000 exhibits, which are kept in storage and displayed in the museum.
The exposition of the Museum of Karaite History and Culture acquaints visitors with the religious and cultural traditions of the Karaites, as well as the social and everyday life of the Karaite community of Halych.
The first hall of the museum presents religious and ritual objects of the Galician Karaites and religious books, as well as the inventory of the Karaite kenesa. One of the showcases displays the seal of the hazzan (spiritual leader of the Karaites) and the stamp of the kenesa. Next to it lies a memorial book from the kenesa, in which guests who visited the Halych Karaite community recorded their impressions. The book begins on August 21, 1926. It contains entries from members of the Karaite conference dedicated to the election of the gaham (supreme spiritual leader) and an entry by the gaham Seraya Markovych Shapshal himself, as well as Professor Tadeusz Kowalski, a Turkologist from Jagiellonian University, and many other interesting records.
Here, one can see a parchment handwritten Torah scroll in ancient Hebrew, which was the language of Karaite worship; khatas, which adorned the Torah; a yad – a pointer for reading the Torah; and menorahs – seven-branched candelabra from the Halych kenesa.
A rather interesting phenomenon of Karaite culture is the Karaite calendars. They are also kept in the museum. Karaites reckon their chronology from the creation of the world. This count begins 3760 years before the birth of Christ. They follow a lunar calendar system. A month has 29-30 days and begins with the appearance of the new moon in the sky. This moment was previously determined through observations, and now – through precise astronomical calculations.
Also exhibited in the museum are photographs of the hekhal – the altar from the Halych kenesa, which was kept in her home by Sabina Samuilivna Zayonchkovska. In 1994, the hekhal was transferred to the Yevpatoria Karaite community. Since 1999, it has adorned the Small Kenesa of Yevpatoria. This is a four-meter-high wooden carved altar consisting of three parts. Its base has a dokhan – a table for reading the Holy Scriptures. The middle part – the Aron Kodesh (holy ark) – is the largest and serves as a repository for the Torah scrolls. The doors of the ark are hidden by an altar curtain. The upper part is crowned with a crown and contains several abbreviated inscriptions.
The second hall of the Museum of Karaite History and Culture houses items and documents that attest to the professional occupations of the Galician Karaites, as well as birth certificates, marriage certificates, school diplomas, identity cards, and other personal documents. There are also unique photographs of the Karaite community of Halych.
One of the showcases displays Karaite periodicals published in the first half of the 20th century in Lutsk, Vilna, etc. These include "Mysl Karaimska," "Karaj Awazy," and "Караимская жизнь" (Karaite Life). The Galician Karaites were active contributors to these journals and regularly covered the life of their community on their pages. Among the materials in the printed publications are poems by the Karaite poet, a native of the village of Lany near Halych, Zachariasz Izak Abrahamowicz (1878-1903), who in his works sang not only of the life of the Karaites but also of the glory of the Galician land and Ukraine.
The life, everyday customs, and traditions of the Karaite community of the city of Halych are presented in the third hall of the Museum of Karaite History and Culture. For this purpose, a room from a Karaite dwelling has been recreated, using authentic furniture: shelves – rafy, similar to Ukrainian mysnyky (shelves for dishes); a bambetel – in the traditions of Western Ukrainians, used instead of a set (wooden sofa); an obligatory attribute – a chest; a low table – sofra with a tablecloth – pyshkar, kaslyky, etc.
The exposition also includes a separate set of dishes used by Karaites during Passover. Dough for Passover loaves (timbylu) was kneaded in wooden troughs – tehine, using a talka and a kesler. Timbylu was decorated with ornaments in the form of fish, stars, flowers, the moon, which were made with special wooden tools: tsemevitsy and a tsemevits-bitsak.
The Museum of Karaite History and Culture preserves, researches, and popularizes the spiritual and material heritage of the Karaites of Halych. Visitors are always welcome here. The museum's researchers conduct interesting excursions, and dialogues and information exchange take place with those interested in the world of Karaite history and culture.
Караїми, разом з кримськими татарами і кримчаками, становлять корінні народи України, чиєю батьківщиною є Крим.Про особливості релігії, побуту та суспільного...
