The Ukrainian National Museum of Art is one of the largest and oldest museums in the country, which was founded in 1899, during the Russian Empire, with funding from the Russian government and the Ukrainian Tereshchenko family. The museum was founded by the efforts of Ukrainian intellectuals in the late nineteenth century as the first public museum in Kiev. The museum building was built in a classical style, combined with a modern design, which is evident in the decorations and inscriptions on its external walls. It contains a unique collection of works of painting, sculpture and Ukrainian icon painting from the twelfth century to the twentieth century.