 It was created on same principles that existed during the Russian Empire where cultural life in Ukraine was administrated by the Russian Ministry of Enlightenment (see Ministry of National Education (Russian Empire)).In May 1918 there was established Ministry of People's Education and Arts headed by Mykola Vasylenko.Later there was "Ministry of Art" headed by Dmytro Antonovych (December 1918 - February 1919) that was disbanded soon after the Soviet invasion of Ukraine.