One of the major decisions of the 15th Regular Sobor of our Church was to approve the Historical and Educational Complex   for our Church. The Museum is currently located beneath St. Andrew Memorial Church at the Metropolia Center and is in dire need of a new location. Not only have we outgrown the space originally allocated in the Memorial Church, but the conditions there are truly horrid for such a collection as ours.

Visitors from Ukraine whose life work is in the field of museums, archeology and history have constantly expressed amazement at the valuable items we have managed to save in our collection. These same people, along with many members of our Church, however, have expressed serious concerns about the poor conditions in a humid basement setting.

The Consistory, by direction of our 14th Sobor, prepared an architectural proposal for the new museum, which will be attached to the present Consistory-Library-Bookstore Complex near the Ukrainian Cultural Center and Seminary. The new annex will provide in excess of 16,000 square feet of display, office, work and study space for the museum on two floors.

A major exhibition of the new plan will be a memorial to the victims of Josef Stalin’s most horrible act of genocide in the Ukrainian Famine of 1932-33. This will be a permanent memorial, which will forever keep the memory of the 7-14 million victims of the famine alive in our hearts and minds and remind the world that -- as we see in contemporary events in the Balkans -- evil still exists and must be prevented from killing millions more innocent people. This period of Ukrainian history must remain vivid in our memory so that the world will not simply close it’s collective eyes and pretend not to see such evil in the future. The Historical and Educational Complex  will attempt to gather significant amounts of information and articles (like photographs or personal effects) associated with the famine for inclusion in this permanent exhibit. If any of our readers have such information or articles, please contact the Consistory to inform us of such. A determination as to their possible inclusion in the exhibit will be made at a later date.

The Office of Development will be appointing a special fund raising committee in the near future. The members of this committee will visit the parishes and various Ukrainian centers to promote the Historical and Educational Complex  and seek donations for its construction. An architectural video and poster presentation will accompany the committee in its travels so that all who are interested can have a firsthand glimpse into what the completed project will offer.

The United Ukrainian Orthodox Sisterhoods, one of our central Church organizations, has made the Historical and Educational Complex  its number one priority in fund raising for the foreseeable future. We are certain that other organizations, parishes and communities will want to contribute abundantly, as well.

For more information, contact:
Ms. Natalia Honcharenko
Tel. (732) 356-0090