Rediscovery of the manuscript by Ivan Yuhasevych

Valentyna Bochkovska, director of the Museum of Books and Printing of Ukraine, during a short stay in Prague visited the National Library of the Czech Republic and together with the library staff conducted the attribution of a rare manuscript copy of Ivan Yuhasevych from the 18th century, as described in the article on the library’s official portal “Exhibit of the Month – January 2026“.

The manuscript is considered to be the most significant collection of para-liturgical songs by Ivan Yuhasevych: he was then one of the Carpathian top transcribers and compilers of hymns and other spiritual texts. Yuhasevych also illustrated many of his works. Five of Juhasevych’s hymn books are known, of which the National Library of the Czech Republic owns two (1761–1763 and 1811), and the National Museum of the Czech Republic owns one (1812).

The Spivanyk from 1798 was discovered in the Slavonic Library before Christmas 2024 by the librarian Rita Lyons Kindlerová with the help of Valentyna Bochkovska, director of the Kyiv Museum of Books and Printing. The rediscovery of the manuscript fills a gap in Yuhasevych’s extensive work, mainly because notations were not commonly included in hymnbooks at that time.