UKRAINE TO SHOWCASE LARGE-SCALE PROJECT
ON TRYPILLIAN CULTURE IN USA

By Valentyna Pashchenko, Ukrinform, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thu, March 26, 2009

KYIV - In 2010-2012, Ukraine for the first time presents a large-scale historical and cultural heritage project in the United States. Particularly, a number of exhibits in various U.S. museums. According to Ukrinform, this was announced today at the press-conference in Kyiv by the officials who represent the organizers of the project: Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Ukraine, the Platar National Heritage Museum and the US Foundation for International Arts and Education. 

According to FIAE President Gregory Guroff, the exhibition of Ukrainian heritage: "Ukraine: from Trypillia to Kyiv Rus" will consist mainly of rare artifacts from private collections, notably, the Platar National Heritage Museum (founded by Serhij Taruta and Mykola Platonov) and the Prehistoric Aratta-Ukraine Museum in the village of Trypillia, Kyiv oblast (founder and director Oleksandr Polishchuk); as well as the exhibition of icons and sacred items from the 9th-19th centuries which will be presented by the National Kyiv Pechersk Historical and Cultural Preserve.   

 “Our goal is to get American people acquanted with the Ukrainian culture. And we are really proud of the fact that we can do this,” Gregory Guroff stressed. He also expressed confidence that the exhibits will attract more attention in the United States than in Ukraine.

James Pettit, the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine Deputy Chief expressed his confidence that millions of Americans will visit these exhibitions. “As the majority of U.S. citizens are not well acquainted with Ukraine, they will have a chance to learn more about it thanks to the exhibits,” he noted. 

Vasyl Vovkun, Minister for Culture and Tourism of Ukraine told that the recent exhibit of the Trypillian culture in the Vatican was a big surprise, it made possible for Europeans to realize that the roots of their civilization go not to Mesopotamia but to the heart of Europe in the Middle Dnieper region.

Meanwhile, New York’s Museum of Biblical Art Executive director Ena Heller noted that the exhibit representing variety of Ukrainian icons which is little known in America will also be of great interest.

As informed during the press-conference, the number of items to be on show in the U.S. reaches 50 icons and between 200 and 250 other artifacts. To select the exhibition items, representatives of the following museums have come to Ukraine: Museum of Biblical Art, New York, Museum of Russian Icons, Clinton, Mass., Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska, and Houston Museum of Natural Science.

This project between two countries is supported by the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine and the Ukraine Embassy in the USA, as well as by the U.S.-Ukraine Business Council, USUBC. Financial support is given by the Industrial Union of Donbas Corporation and the Foundation of International Arts and Education, USA.

LINK: http://www.ukrinform.ua/ukr/order/?id=794155

NOTE:  Translated from Ukrainian into English for the U.S.-Ukraine Business Council (USUBC).