On June 25, 2021, a public lecture “History of the Ukrainian National Symbols” to Constitution Day of Ukraine (June 28) was held in O.O.Osmerkin Art-Memorial Museum. The lecture was conducted by the museum leading researcher, Merited Artist of Ukraine Andrii Nadezhdin.
    Our country has a centuries-old history of the constitutional process. The famous Pylyp Orlyk's Constitution was adopted in 1710. According to historians, it became one of the first European constitutions of modern history, but it hadn’t come into force. This historic event took place on June 28, 1996, in independent Ukraine. The adoption of the Constitution has strengthened the legal frameworks of independent Ukraine, its sovereignty, and territorial integrity. It also has become an important step in ensuring human and civil rights, contributed to the shaping of Ukraine as an independent and sovereign state, as well as a full-fledged subject of international legal relations.
    At the lecture dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the adoption of Ukraine’s Constitution, the expert in art history Andrii Nadezhdin mentioned: “According to the Article 20 of the Constitution of Ukraine, the national symbols are State Flag of Ukraine, State Coat of Arms of Ukraine, and State Anthem of Ukraine. The national Ukrainian symbols have been shaped for thousands of years and are among the richest and the most meaningful symbol systems of humankind. There are more than thirty versions that explain the origin and interpret the meaning of Tryzub (Trident). Only after Ukraine has become independent in 1991, the symbol of Tryzub (Trident), as well as blue and yellow colors of the flag, returned to their initial place in the heraldic map of Ukraine”.
    The lecture had interesting colored illustrations and a meaningful theme. In 2015, to Constitution Day, the museum displayed the themed exhibition “Heraldry of the Kirovohrad Region”. It was organized together with the Kirovohrad Regional Department of the Ukrainian Heraldry Union. The local heraldists developed the prizes and awards in the region, initiated the creation of Heraldry Committee of the Kirovohrad Regional Council and Toponymic Committee of Kropyvnytskyi City Council, in 2002 together with the Regional Organization of the National Unions of Architects and Artists of Ukraine founded the Regional Award in Architecture, Heraldry and Vexillology, Decorative and Applied Arts named after Yakiv Pauchenko, which is awarded for the best developments among coat of arms and flags for towns, districts, and villages in the Kirovohrad Region.
    If we learn the history of our state and honor the traditions of the Ukrainian people, we can be sure in the present and the future where Constitutional rights become a reality and each citizen of Ukraine feels that their life, health, honor and dignity, inviolability and security are recognized as the supreme value, and that is the sign of a democratic state.