During an official visit to Austria, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska took part in a solemn presentation of a Ukrainian-language audio guide at the Art History Museum in Vienna. The First Lady of Austria Doris Schmidauer was also present at the solemn event.
The Ukrainian audio guide for the Vienna Art History Museum was created as part of Olena Zelenska's initiative to spread the Ukrainian language in the world, in particular in the most significant cultural and historical places. This is the second Ukrainian-language audio guide introduced in Austrian museums within the project of the Ukrainian President's wife - in early June 2020, the Albertina Gallery in Vienna also started "speaking" Ukrainian.
"The Vienna Art History Museum is one of the world's largest temples of art. Every year it is visited by millions of tourists, including thousands of Ukrainian tourists. I am very glad that the Ukrainian language will be heard in this museum for the first time. And I am sure that this will increase the interest of Ukrainians in world art. Although many Ukrainians also know English," President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
"Today is a holiday for me, because it is another pearl of cultural heritage in our necklace of Ukrainian audio guides. I am always happy to see that visitors of museums around the world can listen to a tour in their native Ukrainian language. And today such a majestic museum - the Vienna Museum of Art History - has also opened its doors to Ukrainian visitors. Some may say that during the pandemic, Ukrainians are not able to travel, and why do it now. I will answer: such times should be used for preparation of "homework". We, together with the museum management and our embassy, used the quarantine period to prepare this audio guide so that when the pandemic finally ends, Ukrainians can discover the Vienna Museum of Art History in their native language,” the First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska said.
"I also want to say that we do this not only for Ukrainian tourists. We do not forget about those Ukrainians who permanently or temporarily live in other countries. That is why we dream of such audio guides not only in Vienna, but also in Italy, Spain, America, Canada - wherever there are Ukrainians who want to discover the world art in the Ukrainian language. I am very much grateful to the directorate of the Museum, to our embassy in Austria - you have done a great job! I am grateful to Ms. Doris Schmidauer, First Lady, for her support and for being with us today, on this important day for us. Thank you, Volodymyr, for supporting me in this endeavor. Thank you to the translators, the actors of the recording - to all those who joined this project," the President's wife added.
"I support my wife's initiative. She and her team are implementing this project in all major museums around the world. We believe that thanks to this work, Ukrainian-language audio guides will be introduced in the most famous museums. We will be able to enjoy art - just like here in Austria - in Ukrainian. I also want to thank everyone who made efforts to make our Ukrainian language travel the world," Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed.
