Foundation to Preserve Ukraine's Sacral Arts and Smithsonian Institution welcome Ukraine's Monuments Officers to Washington
On August 22, 2023, the Foundation to Preserve Ukraine’s Sacral Arts, together with the Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative, welcomed Ukraine’s first cohort of six Monuments Officers at a reception held at Ukraine House. Over 100 guests attended, including Ukraine’s Ambassador Oksana Markarova, Ambassador Clyde Taylor and Dr. Richard Kurin, Smithsonian Distinguished Scholar and Ambassador-at-Large.
The six Ukrainian military personnel joined military from the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Poland for the weeklong Army Monuments Officer Training (AMOT) program organized by the Smithsonian and the United States Army in partnership with the departments of State, Defense, Justice and Homeland Security. The training focused on the military’s responsibility in implementing the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in times of Armed Conflict.
The six Ukrainian military personnel joined military from the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Poland for the weeklong Army Monuments Officer Training (AMOT) program organized by the Smithsonian and the United States Army in partnership with the departments of State, Defense, Justice and Homeland Security. The training focused on the military’s responsibility in implementing the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in times of Armed Conflict.
Water-Mist Fire Extinguishers Delivered to Protect Ukraine's Wooden Churches
In July 2022 the Foundation to Preserve Ukraine's Sacral Arts, in partnership with the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) and the World Monuments Fund, delivered 440 water-mist fire extinguishers to protect wooden churches in Ukraine. Ukraine is home to more than 2,500 wooden churches, the largest number in the world. Eight of the historic wooden churches are included on the UNESCO World Heritage List of Wooden Tserkvas of the Carpathian Region in Poland and Ukraine. The fire extinguishers were distributed to the villages of Bus’k, Kuty and Cherepyn – among others – by our colleagues at the Center to Rescue Ukraine's Cultural Heritage, ICOMOS Ukraine and the Heritage Emergency Response Initiative (HERI).
Rutgers Preparatory School Students Tour Sacral Sites in Ukraine
In May 2019 the Foundation to Preserve Ukraine's Sacral Arts organized a tour of sacral architecture in Ukraine for six students of Rutgers Preparatory School in Somerset, New Jersey. The students visited the "Shevchenko Grove" outdoor museum in Lviv, FTPUSA's restoration project in the village of Vovkiv, the Church of St. George - a UNESCO World Heritage site in Drohobych - and the Carpathian Mountains.
Mykola Bevz Lectures on Ukrainian Wooden Churches in the Carpathian Mountains
In September 2017 the Foundation to Preserve Ukraine's Sacral Arts sponsored a lecture in Washington, D.C., on Ukrainian Wooden Churches in the Carpathian Mountains by Dr. Mykola Bevz of the Lviv Polytechnic National University.