History of Shabo
Museum, SHABO Winery/Brand Land, Ukraine, 2009

Five pillars hold up the architrave of the portal which bears the name „Shabo Museum“. Each pillar represents a period in Shabo’s history.

The Shabo Museum is accommodated in a “black box” 33m long, 7m wide and 4m high. Inside the “black box”, as a walk-through history book, Shabo’s wine history is staged in a graphic and exciting way. The journey through the labyrinth of history makes for an unforgettable experience for the visitor.

On a cinema screen visitors encounter Louis Tardent, who founded the wine colony of Chabag (Shabo) nearly 200 years ago. In a film Louis Tardent tells visitors the most important facts about Shabo’s history in an entertaining way.

After the film visitors enter a courtyard in ancient Tyras (6th to 2nd century BC), a Greek colony of the city of Milet in Asia Minor. It is evening. Stars are glimmering in the sky. The chirring of cicadas mingles with the sounds of the flute and the lyre. Visitors delve into the dark world of the wine myth.
In the ancient Andron, the room for symposia, which was only open to men, a wine orgy is being staged.

Through cut-out symbols of wine myths visitors can see into the next period, the era of Turkish rule.
Exotic scents and richly decorated tiled walls allow visitors to delve into the world of the sultans.

On 19th July 1822 the first Swiss colonists left Vevey, led by Louis Tardent. 30 people, 10 of whom were adults, set off on the 2500km journey in 8 carts, each of which was pulled by 3 to 4 horses. One hears the horses whinny, the oxen bray, the squeals of the wagon wheels and the voices of the colonists.

At the end of the long journey visitors find themselves in front of the thatched house of Louis and Urania Tardent.
The door is open and the visitors enter. It looks as though the inhabitants have only nipped out for a moment.
One hears, sees and smells everyday life as it was then. One hears their music, their songs, the characteristic sounds of work, hens are clucking in the courtyard, a dog barks...
Through the window one has a view of the courtyard and the surrounding vines
In the shed there are barrels, tools and wine-growing equipment...

The Second World War spells the end of the Swiss colony in Shabo. The houses of the Swiss, and their church too, were plundered.
Most Swiss colonists fled out of fear of Stalin’s terror.
The theme of the Second World War is not staged as such. It is a space. A place of calm and reflection on the horrors of war and its victims.

Visitors enter the antechamber of the director of the kolkhoz of Shabo. The Soviet era with its symbolism full of pathos is omnipresent here. An old radio transmits Gorbachev’s anti-alcohol campaign, slogans and military marches. Every now and the monstrous telephone installation rings. Outside the window there are a few sad and wilting pot plants...