“Archives of the Earth: From Rocks to Fossil Organisms” – A New Permanent Exhibition on Paleontology and Geology Opens at the Museum

On May 27, 2026, a permanent exhibition titled “Archives of the Earth: From Rocks to Fossil Organisms” was opened at the Local History Museum of the city of Horishni Plavni. The exhibition is dedicated to paleontology and geology of the region. It immerses visitors in the world of an ancient sea, at the bottom of which our land was located millions of years before the founding of Horishni Plavni. The geological section presents minerals of various types and chronological periods. It serves as a logical continuation of the existing “Geologist’s Room” exhibition, but unlike it, showcases a wider diversity of geological materials — both local and those collected from different regions of Ukraine and the world. A highlight of the exhibition is a model of the basilosaurus — an ancient cetacean that lived during the middle and late Eocene, approximately 40–37 million years ago. Fossilized bones of this animal were discovered at the bottom of the Kremenchuk Reservoir and are now displayed in one of the exhibition showcases. The model itself is a scientific reconstruction created by artist Volodymyr Porfyriyev. The opening event was attended by Oleksandr Suprunenko — archaeologist, museum professional, PhD in History, and Honored Worker of Culture of Ukraine — who donated collections of scientific works containing the final lifetime publications of archaeologist Yurii Shylov, whose research also covered the surroundings of Horishni Plavni. In turn, Professor Viktor Ohar, Doctor of Geological Sciences from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, who was present at the opening, donated a complete set of the journal “Geologist of Ukraine” to the museum’s scientific library. Svit Ozar Davidenko, PhD, researcher at the I. I. Schmalhausen Institute of Zoology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and author of the 3D model of the basilosaurus, congratulated the museum on the opening of the modern exhibition and emphasized the importance of scientific research in this field. At the end of the event, he presented a reconstruction of the ancient whale basilosaurus based on fossil remains and explained the process of its creation.