From Reconstruction to Perestroika. 1943–1991

A prominent place is given to cultural life, education and the scientific achievements of our countrymen, the participation of Kharkiv residents in the Afghan war and in the liquidation of the consequences of the Chornobyl disaster. The authors paid considerable attention to everyday aspects of post-war life.

The exhibition shows four living interiors that portray the daily life of residents of Kharkiv and the region in the 1950s–1980s: a city dwelling (mid-1950s), a kitchen (1960s), the home of a villager (1960s) and a city resident’s room (1980s). They are distinguished by a considerable number of original period furniture and authentic tableware made in Budy and Polonne.

Soviet banknotes that were in circulation in the middle and second half of the 20th century are shown for the first time — roubles of 1938, 1947 and 1961 and food ration cards. In the display devoted to agriculture you can see a milking machine.

The collection of mid-20th-century household appliances is worth noting: the Znamya and Sever television sets, the Rekord radio, LOMO and FED cameras, the Soviet-made Elektronika VM video recorder and the Inei stereo tape recorder.

The industry of the Kharkiv region is shown through a series of high-precision models and copies of equipment and products of the region’s enterprises. These include, for example, models of metalworking machines — a lathe and a radial drilling machine — and products of the city’s factories, such as a copy of the DVSh self-propelled chassis.

The exhibition is adorned by a CZ motorcycle (Czechoslovakia, 1950) and bicycles made in different years at the Kharkiv Bicycle Factory.

Among the many undoubtedly interesting exhibits are several truly unique ones: the personal belongings of the cosmonaut Oleksii Leonov — an overcoat and a cap — and a training suit that belonged to the cosmonaut Yu. V. Malyshev. The theme of space exploration is also shown through samples of packaging for storing food in weightlessness.

The pearl of the part of the exhibition that shows visitors the cultural life of Sloboda Ukraine is the stage costume and shoes of the actress of the Kharkiv Lysenko Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre S. I. Kolyvanova.

In the section “Cultural Kharkiv” you can see the personal belongings of the international master and Ukrainian SSR cycling champion P. Muzhytskyi and the awards of the world cycling champion R. Obodovska.