Two holidays almost coincide in time—All-Ukrainian Library Day and Education Workers' Day. As noted by the famous Ukrainian educator and publicist Vasyl Sukhomlynsky, “a library is a temple where spirituality is always born and preserved.” This year, these holidays coincided with the 45th anniversary of the H.I. Denysenko Scientific and Technical Library building. On this occasion, a round table discussion entitled “Community Space” was held there.
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...The presidium included scientists, an architect, an artist, librarians, and others—in short, everyone who knows about this repository of wisdom and a little more. The topic of discussion was the history of the library itself, an excursion into the chronicle of the construction and activities of the book repository over the past 45 years in the building, which was erected according to a project developed by the staff of the Kyiv Research Institute of Experimental Design in collaboration with specialists from the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute (architects V. Likhvodov (head), O. Zykov, V. Kiseiko, engineer D. Ganelin).
In their speeches, the head of the primary trade union organization of Igor Sikorsky KPI Yuriy Veremychuk; the head of the Academic Council of the university, academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Mykhailo Ilchenko; the head of the research department of the history of KPI of the Boris Paton State Polytechnic Museum Vitalii Tatarchuk; the vice-rector of KPI during 1971-1992, laureate of the State Prize in the field of architecture Eduard Nazarenko; People's Artist of Ukraine, winner of the Taras Shevchenko National Prize Volodymyr Pasyvenko; Assistant Rector of Igor Sikorsky KPI, Corresponding Member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Serhiy Sydorenko; Director of the Educational and Scientific Institute of Physics and Technology Oleksiy Novikov; daughter of the former chief architect of KPI, author and project manager of the architectural complex, winner of the State Prize of Ukraine in the field of architecture Volodymyr Lykhovodov; Olena Lykhovodova recalled the stages of formation of the H.I. Denysenko Scientific and Technical Library as the center of intellectual life of the university, which houses over two million books and a collection of historical and contemporary sources of information.
Mykhailo Ilchenko spoke about a day in September 1971, when the new rector of KPI, Hryhorii Denysenko, who already had experience as rector at Lviv Polytechnic, was introduced to the members of the Academic Council at its meeting. With his arrival, a period began when, as the head of the largest and most famous technical university in Ukraine, Hryhorii Ivanovych, together with his colleagues, began to improve the material and technical potential of the institute in parallel with the development of its educational and scientific base.
In 1975, the Council of Ministers of the Ukrainian SSR approved a long-term development plan for the capital's technical university on an area of almost 104 hectares. And H. Denisenko actually became the head of a large construction project that unfolded on the territory of KPI. Together with like-minded people, he acted according to a plan developed jointly with his colleagues. Among them was his colleague from Lviv, Eduard Nazarenko, who was directly involved in organizing the construction, possessing the art of making extraordinary decisions and applying his own intuition as an architect and civil engineer.
In his speech, Eduard Nazarenko recalled how, in 1971, Hryhorii Denysenko introduced the institute's management to specialists from the Ukrainian Zonal Scientific Research and Design Institute for Civil Construction (KyivZNDIEP) as the main organization responsible for design work. In creative collaboration with the designers, KPI employees worked on working drawings for new faculty buildings and other structures. A group of architects and engineers led by V. Lyhovodov: O. Zykov, V. Kiseiko, engineer D. Ganelin, together with representatives of the institute's administration – Rector Hryhorii Denysenko, Vice-Rectors Eduard Nazarenko and Viktor Sydorenko, with the participation of the then Director of the Scientific and Technical Library, Luiza Vorona, and her deputy, Vasyl Drygailo, worked out the technical specifications for the development and further implementation of the project. Incidentally, the library's scientific secretary, Svitlana Barabash, said that according to a document recently found in the NTB archives by her colleagues, the foundation slab for the future library was laid on February 20, 1976.
...September 1, 1980, was the opening day of the new building. According to Eduard Nazarenko, it is necessary to find copies of the working drawings used to implement the library project in the state archives and preserve them in the NTB for future generations. The basis of the new building, with a total volume of over 56,000 cubic meters, was a prefabricated reinforced concrete frame with a grid of columns. One part of the building was designed as an eight-story book storage facility for 2.5 million volumes, while the other part was designed as library premises: subscription rooms, specialized reading rooms for 1,500 people, a conference hall, etc. Inkerman stone and granite were used in the cladding of the library's architecturally restrained facades, and many expensive materials were used to decorate the interior.
The center of the spatial composition of the library section is a covered seven-tiered atrium with overhead lighting and a semicircular volume, where the stairs are located.
Vitaly Tatarchuk, head of the research department of the history of the KPI at the Boris Paton State Polytechnic Museum, emphasized that the invention of printing is one of the most important events in human history. Therefore, any discussion of the Scientific and Technical Library should begin with the fact that the first rector of the university, the talented mechanical engineer and educator Viktor Kirpichov, was involved in organizing the work of the KPI library at that time. Simultaneously with the organization of education, Kirpichov took care of filling the institute's book fund, using donations from many patrons. Thus, the KPI library has a 127-year history. Today, it is the largest technical university library in Ukraine. From its first steps under the leadership of book repository manager Mykola Bilyashivsky, who laid the foundation for its book collection, to its heroic efforts to continue operating during revolutions and World War II, librarians and bibliographers have always remained faithful to their mission. In 1965, the library received the status of a scientific and technical library, and in 2018 and 2024, it won the “Library of the Year” competition...
Svitlana Barabash spoke fondly of the then director of the NTB, Luiza Vorona, her deputy Vasyl Drygailo (director of the NTB in 1991-2015), and chief librarian Nina Dimenko. These people, together with the NTB team, helped to provide ongoing support for the construction of this important facility.
How can the library serve students, teachers, and researchers today? In addition to literature from the NTB's own collections, you can order books by mail, compile a list of literature for a course or thesis, print or scan the necessary documents, and more. Want to read an article by foreign authors from the US or Europe? This is also possible using the RapidILL electronic service.
Vladimir Pasivenko, the author of monumental decorative paintings, spoke about the origin of the idea to create four colour panels on four floors of the building on the theme of technical creativity and its implementation.
Initially, the artist planned to depict mathematical, physical, and chemical formulas on the walls. But he soon abandoned this idea: “numbers and letters” are for textbooks. In the end, he settled on the four elements of nature: water, earth, fire, and sky. Some time passed, and now monumental decorative compositions reflecting the interaction between man and nature play a significant role in the interior decoration of the four floors of the library: “Man and Earth,” “Man and Water,” “Man and Fire,” “Man and Space.” The source of inspiration was an acquaintance with world visual arts. Works by Picasso, Matisse, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Chagall, Rousseau, Yablonska, Čiurlionis, Ukrainian avant-garde artists, and others, as well as the films “Earth” by O. Dovzhenko and “Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors” by S. Paradzhanov and Y. Ilyenko, helped Vladimir Pasivenko realize his artistic ideas, which were supported by Vice-Rector Eduard Nazarenko. The artist also paid tribute to his own daughter Bohdana, who inspired her father's creativity while he was working on the panel (incidentally, she was also present at the event).
The recollections of Assistant Rector Serhii Sydorenko, who at that time was one of the leaders of the youth movement at KPI, concerned the introduction of a management system at the institute, developed by Rector H. Denysenko. The combined efforts of the rector's office, faculties, departments, youth and trade union organizations to ensure the simultaneous construction of new faculty buildings, a library, and the future Center for Culture and Arts made it possible to resolve a number of production, organizational, technical, and economic issues at all institutional, republican, and state levels. And this was achieved while maintaining the continuity of the educational and research process at KPI. Large-scale construction in a short time was made possible thanks to talented scientists, engineers, and experienced construction process organizers, with the direct participation of students. Serhii Ivanovych called on all polytechnics, from students to professors, to focus their efforts on teaching, pedagogical and research work, and on providing assistance to the Armed Forces of Ukraine during these difficult times.
Oleksii Novikov, director of the FTI, shared some interesting facts from his own construction practice.
Director of the Scientific and Technical Library Yevgeniya Kulik gave a vivid example of how modern students made a significant contribution during the preparation and implementation of the Smart Shelter CLUST Space project – a smart shelter based in the library.
Vladimir Lyhovodov's daughter Olena thanked the organizers and participants of the round table for preserving the memory of her father in a video message. She believes that the successful combination of functionality, architecture, and monumental decorative art makes the building of the G.I. Denisenko Scientific and Technical Library of Igor Sikorsky KPI a striking example of Ukrainian architecture of the late 20th century. It is truly a genuine community space at the center of wisdom.