Between 1969 and 1972, renowned monumental artists Mykola Storozhenko, Ivan Marchuk, Anatolii Haidamaka, and Larysa Mishchenko worked on the artistic design of the Bogolyubov Institute for Theoretical Physics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. Today, seven monumental and decorative art pieces adorn and stand as the pride of the institution. Among them is the interior ceramic panel “To Distant Planets” by Ivan Marchuk. The panel, composed of tiles, features stylized portraits of nine scientists and captures the moment just before the launch of a spacecraft. At the center, surrounded by his colleagues, stands Serhiy Korolyov with his hand raised toward the control panel. Completing the composition are the figures of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky on the left and Mykola Kybalchych on the right.
The Institute for Theoretical Physics of the NAS of Ukraine and the building’s decorative design have been granted the status of a newly identified cultural heritage site (history, art).
Text by T. Miachkova, photo by Yu. Melnyk.