THE DEVELOPMENT OF MONUMENTAL AND DECORATIVE ART IN UZHHOROD (1959 – 1990): BASED ON ARCHIVAL MATERIALS

This article presents a case study dedicated to the formation and evolution of monumental and decorative art in Uzhhorod from 1959 to 1990, examined through the activities of the regional branch of the Art Fund of the Ukrainian SSR. The study focuses on public artworks created in the city’s urban space, analyzed on the basis of archival sources with identification of authorship, dates of creation, and artistic techniques. The retrospective highlights the post-war implementation of centralized cultural policy, within which the institutional expansion of the Art Fund’s functions became a strategic mechanism for the monopolization of artistic production, while also contributing to the professionalization of the field. The establishment of the regional branches of the Union of Artists and the Art Fund, the founding of the Art and Industrial School, and the continuity of the artistic tradition rooted in the legacy of Adalbert Erdelyi and Yosyf Bokshai laid the foundation for the formation of a new model of local monumentalism. Three main developmental phases are identified: institutional formation (1959 – 1970), structural maturity and thematic expansion (1970 – 1980), and aesthetic renewal during the late Soviet period (1980 – 1990). The analysis covers the influence of regulatory acts on the development of the Art Fund and the integration of monumental and decorative art into the urban environment, as well as the Fund’s role in accumulating resources and technologies for artistic production. The study includes a cataloguing of the artistic heritage and an examination of the causes behind the loss of a significant portion of this legacy: out of more than 150 documented objects, over half have been destroyed or are in critical condition. The article ultimately proposes considering Uzhhorod as a unique center for the implementation of a locally specific model of monumental and decorative visual culture in the second half of the 20th century–one whose experience requires professional reassessment and preservation within the contemporary cultural field.