The complex is dedicated to the great granddaughter of Ivan Fomich Khrutsky, the first academician of painting, Yadvig Alexandrovna Matievskaya, whose childhood is inextricably linked with Polotsk.
Yadviga was born in 1916 in St. Petersburg, but soon her mother and children moved to Zakharnichy's estate near Polotsk, which, according to their own project, was built by their great ancestor. In a photo of 1919, allegedly made in Zakharnichi, you can see Jadwiga and her sister Elena. In 1932 J. Matievskaya graduated from Polotsk school No. 7 in Polotsk, as evidenced by the certificate of graduation and the certificate "The best drummer, an active fighter for a polytechnic school." It is not surprising that Yadviga Alexandrovna knew Polish well and even composed poems on it. One of her manuscripts with verses "TROJKA" can be read in our museum.
After the graduation from school, Yadviga studied in Leningrad in the technical school, and later - in the Mining Institute, and additionally visited the painting studio on Vasilievsky Island. This determined her future destiny. Since 1943 Yadviga Alexandrovna studied at the Academy of Arts, evacuated to Samarkand. There she was transferred to the Kiev Art Institute, where she continued her studies. In 1958 a young artist became a member of the Union of Artists of Ukraine and took part in exhibitions both on the territory of the Soviet Union and abroad.
In the 1980-1990's. Y. Matievskaya, collecting information about her relatives, several times came to Polotsk. Together with local ethnographers, she managed to find the grave of IF Khrutsky at the old cemetery in Zakharnichi. In 1997, according to the spiritual will of YA Matievskaya urn with her ashes was buried in the cemetery in Zakharnichy near the grave of great-grandfather, and the funds of the National Polotsk Historical and Cultural Museum-Reserve were enlarged with 181 paintings and 539 graphic works, as well as the artist's documents. With the catalog of her works from the collection of NPIKMZ can be found on the link: http://local.polotsk.museum.by/node/22305.
In the exposition of the museum one can also see a portrait of another representative of the Khrutsky family.