UKRAINE WILL WIDELY REPRESENT ITS HISTORICAL AND
CULTURAL HERITAGE FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THE USA

Museum of National Cultural History, Kyiv, Ukraine, March 26, 2009

KYIV - The National Kyiv-Pechersk Historical and Cultural Preserve, the Museum of National Cultural Heritage "PlaTar" in cooperation with the Foundation for International Arts and Education (FIAE), the Corporation "Industrial Union of Donbass", the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine, the Embassy of Ukraine in the USA and the US-Ukraine Business Council (USUBC) will hold a series of cultural and art exhibitions in the United Statesduring 2010-2012.

The organizers of the museum project are the Ministry of Culture and Tourism (Vasyl Vovkun, Minister) together with the Museum of the National Cultural Heritage "PlaTar" (Mykola Platonov, Serhiy Taruta) and the Foundation for International Arts and Education (USA, Gregory Guroff, President) with the support of the Embassy of Ukraine in the USA (Ambassador Oleg Shamshur) and the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine (Ambassador William Taylor). Cooperation with other museums in Ukraine is also possible.

The exhibitions will be held within the framework of the "Ukraine - To The World" action, held under the patronage of the President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko. The aim is to promote the dialogue of cultures from different countries, acquaintance with the national culture heritage of the American citizens and the promotion of Ukraine in the world.

Ukraine is being visited by U.S. experts from several museums: the Museum of Biblical Art (New York), the Museum of Russian Icons (Clinton, Mass), Joslyn Art Museum (Omaha, Nebraska), Houston Natural Science Museum to select the exhibits. The important project starts with the press-conference today (the list of participants is below).

UKRAINE HAS GREAT CULTURAL HERITAGE
Ukraine is one of the largest European states with a great cultural heritage. Sources of culture are deeply rooted into the times of the Tripolian archaeological culture, Scythians, proto Slavs. The Museum of Cultural Heritage "PlaTar" will present the exhibition of Ukrainian antiquities "Ukraine: from Tripillya to the Kievan Rus" -artifacts of the Tripolian civilization, mysterious civilization that had developed in Ukraine long before the civilizations of Sumer and Babylon and which was became the source of all Indo-European community.

At a recent exhibition of the Tripolian antiquities in the Vatican, Giovanni Morcllo, Chairman of the Scientific Committee at the Vatican Museums said: "This exhibition is a huge surprise for us because it seemed that in Europe everything was clear and no new archaeological discoveries could be made, but Tripolian civilization allows all Europeans to understand that the roots do not reach Mesopotamia, but the heart of Europe, and it enriches our culture".

The exhibition will also include antiquities from Ukraine which dates them back to the period of Cimmerians, Scythians, Sarmatians, Byzantium and Kievan Rus. The goal is to show the U.S. public, which is unfamiliar with Ukraine, its long history, culture and development of ancient civilization, which had a significant influence to the world civilization development.

Christian tradition of the Ukrainian culture goes back to those times when at the lands of the Scythians Saint Apostle Andrew preached, and to the art of Kyivan Rus. The blend of Christian and folk traditions, their preservation and development, led to the viability of Ukrainian culture. Hence the nation saves the language, customs, spiritual and artistic integrity for centuries.

KYIV-PECHERSK HISTORICAL-CULTURAL PRESERVE
The National Kyiv-Pechersk Historical-Cultural Preserve will ,"represent series of exhibitions to the people of the USA. The articles of the 16th-19th centuries from the Preserve's collection -is a part of the rich artistic heritage of the Ukrainian people, which is one of the highest cultural achievements of the national culture.

They illustrate the evolution of the sacred art from the latest Byzantine period of the Ukrainian icon-painting until the golden age of the Baroque period. The exhibition will be represented by icons created not only by professional artists but also by folk icon painters. This will show the diversity of the Ukrainian iconography.

The majority of articles - are the church icons from icon stands of various churches as well as the Holy door. Besides them the small home icons will be displayed. The images of Christ, of the Virgin, the feasts icons, images of selected popular Saints and replicas of the miracle-working Ukrainian icons will be shown. The particular attention will be given to the artifacts originated in Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra - the Christian shrine of the world.

The exposition will also represent other sacral items - (crosses, chalices, pyxes, icon-lamps etc.), liturgical textiles and books in precious frames, which will enrich the understanding of the Orthodox Christian rituals and customs. Thus we'll be able to present the saved national cultural heritage better. Total number of the articles is up to 100. Among them: icons -80 (3 icons of the 16th c., 15 icons of the 1ih c., 30 -40 icons of the 18th c., 20-25 icons of the 19th c.). Depending on the size of premises and exhibition equipment the quantity may be changed.

These historical articles have already been presented in Italy, Hungary, Germany, Finland, Spain, Belarus and Russia. Some will be shown for the first time. The beginning of the press conference will be March 26, 2009 at 4 p. m., address, The National Kyiv-Pechersk Historical and Cultural Preserve, 1. Mazepa str., 21, build. 1. Contacts: +38(044)2545427 

The participants of the press-conference today:

Vasyl' Vovkun, Minister of Culture and Tourism of Ukraine. 
James Pettit, Deputy Ambassador of the USA in Ukraine 
Deborah Taylor, Ph.D, the curator. 
Gregory Guroff, Ph.D, President of the Foundation for International Arts and Education. 
Katherine Guroff, Director of Programs of the Foundation for International Alts and Education. 
Ena Heller, Ph.D, Executive Director of the Museum of Biblical Art, New York, NY. 
Gordon Lankton, Founder of the Museum of Russian Icons, Clinton town, Massachusetts. 
Lisa Rebori, Vice President of collections (Houston Natural Science Museum), Houston, Texas. 
E. Morgan Williams, President of U.S.-Ukraine Business Council (USUBC)
Serhiy Taruta, Foundator of the Museum of the National Cultural Heritage "PlaTar" 
Olexander Pylypenko, first Vice-President of the Corporation "Industrial Union of Donbass". 
Mykola Platonov, Founder of the Museum of Cultural Heritage "PlaTar". 
Archimandrite Cyril (Govorun), Head of the International Affairs Department of the
       Ukrainian Orthodox Christian Church. 
Mother-Superior Serafima (Shevchik), Head of the "Mission the Church and Culture" Synod
       Department of ,the Ukrainian Orthodox Christian Church. 
Serhiy Krolevets, Director General of the Kievo-Pechersk Historico-Cultural Preserve, the
       Honoured Culture Worker, Head of the All-Ukrainian Association of Museums and Preserves.