Dear Friends,
In March of 2010 The Ukrainian Museum plans to mount an important exhibition — Ukraine–Sweden: At the Crossroads of History (XVII–XVIII Centuries). The exhibition was shown in 2008-2009 at the National Museum of Ukrainian History in Kyiv to commemorate the 300th anniversary of th... Read more
Dear Friends,
In March of 2010 The Ukrainian Museum plans to mount an important exhibition — Ukraine–Sweden: At the Crossroads of History (XVII–XVIII Centuries). The exhibition was shown in 2008-2009 at the National Museum of Ukrainian History in Kyiv to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the Swedish-Ukrainian alliance, the Battle of Poltava and the death of Hetman Ivan Mazepa. The exhibition received widespread acclaim and won second prize among all Ukraine’s exhibitions in 2008. The king of Sweden traveled to Kyiv for the exhibition’s opening.
Shipping priceless historical artifacts from Ukraine and Sweden and preparing all the elements required for an exhibition of this magnitude will entail substantial costs. We are therefore appealing to you, as steadfast friends of The Ukrainian Museum, to become a sponsor of this exhibition and thereby to help bring it to the New York and American communities.
The rationale for presenting this exhibition extends well beyond commemorating an important event in Ukraine’s history and is perhaps most clearly enunciated in the July 9 Wall Street Journal article by Adrian Karatnycky and Professor Alexander J. Motyl, a copy of which is enclosed. The article argues that, to this day, Hetman Mazepa and the Battle of Poltava are a thorn in Russia’s side. It concludes that “the contemporary battle over the meaning of Poltava is as significant as the Battle of Poltava was three centuries ago.”
Ukraine–Sweden: At the Crossroads of History will become a living historical document demonstrating to the American public and the younger generation of Ukrainian Americans that the battle to preserve Ukraine’s independence was already being fought, by Hetman Mazepa and his troops, 300 years ago.
Sincerely,
Prof. Jaroslaw Leshko
President, Board of Trustees
