An amazing piece of modern architecture is set behind an old, traditional Cleveland-style 2-story porched house. These two buildings make up the Ukrainian museum. The house portion is going under a substantial renovation, but I rather enjoyed looking at all of the artifacts amidst the dust and old walls of the old Cleveland house. There was something rather authentic about it, and it certainly didn't take away from the quality of the collection itself.
There is a wonderful taste of Ukrainian culture and history, particularly regarding a few large immigration waves into the US that took place around the turn of the 19th century, and again around World War II. And the new building behind the house is FABULOUS. It's a stark concrete and wood structure that is completely worth the visit in and of itself, if you're into modern architecture.
The museum's curator herself gave me a guided tour, filling me in on the origins of the collection and lots of the history of Ukrainian immigrants in the Cleveland area. She is a first-generation American whose parents were born in the Ukraine, and she speaks the language fluently! Talk about authenticity!
Admission to the museum is by donation, and highly worth a meaningful one. You may also become a sponsor using a mail-in donation envelope. The gift shop sells astoundingly detailed dyed eggs, created using the traditional Ukrainian batik process, and the style of which were symbolically very powerful in pagan times in the Ukraine.
Current Exhibition:
Displaced Persons Camps Exhibit -The Journey from Ukraine to America - WWII Refuges. Runs from June 13-September 6, 2008.
Museum Hours:
Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays - 10 to 3 PM (or by prior appointment).
1202 Kenilworth Ave
Cleveland, OH 44113
United States of America
Phone: 216.781.4329
Their website also features several on-line exhibitions, if you'd like to get a taste: www.umacleveland.org
by: Sarah Sloboda
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