Tripoli culture - archaeological exhibition

The people of the Tripolitanian culture were mainly engaged in agriculture and animal husbandry, developed crafts, knew how to smelt metal, used the horse and cart, built one-story and two-story houses, and sometimes formed huge settlements with up to several thousand inhabitants. They never invented writing, nor did they organize a state, but they had a very complex and developed system of beliefs and perceptions. They brought to a high level the manufacture and decoration of ceramic vessels, diverse in form, shape, color and ornamentation. Particularly interesting phenomenon of Tripoli culture is anthropomorphic and zoomorphic plasticity – figurines of people and animals are excellent learning material about the lives of their creators.

Traces of the Tripoli culture were encountered during excavations carried out as early as the 19th century by Polish and Ukrainian archaeologists. It is named after the village of Trypole (Ukr. Trypillia) near Kyiv, where some of the first discoveries were made.

Particularly noteworthy are ritual statuettes of women as well as animals and birds associated with the cult of fertility and fertility, or table and resource vessels with colorful painted ornamentation, including unusual double “binocular” vessels.

The exhibits presented at the exhibition came from the Lviv Historical Museum and the Archaeological Museum in Cracow.