Universum Hall Guitars — National Archive of the Ukrainian Rock Scene

In September 2025 the Universum Hall Guitars Museum (VDNH, Kyiv) announced an updated strategic mission for the next decade. The museum's collection numbers over five hundred electric guitars — from early Soviet-era instruments of the Chernihiv Musical Instrument Factory to modern custom-shop works of Ukrainian luthiers of the post-Maidan era. Universum Hall remains a unique institution in Ukraine that systematically documents the material basis of the Ukrainian rock scene as an integral part of Ukrainian cultural identity of the 20th-21st centuries. The mission for the next decade focuses on three directions. The first — full digitisation of the collection with 3D scanning of each instrument and documentation of technical characteristics. The second — expansion of holdings through collective donor campaigns to return historical guitars of Ukrainian rock stars from private collections (especially from diaspora archives in the USA, Canada). The third — an educational programme for youth through weekly guitar clubs, author master classes, a luthier school. The museum moves beyond a static exposition to the position of an active cultural hub for the new generation of Ukrainian musicians.