The Ukrainian Classroom     

"Learn, my brothers! Think and read ... Learn foreign thoughts, but do not shun your own country!"

   The Ukrainian Baroque style comes alive through richly carved wood, colorful ceramics, and intricate metalwork in this adaptation of a nobleman's reception room.

   The entrance has an archaic trapezoidal form with carved motifs of water (chevron), wheat, and sunflowers. The lintel inscription commemorates Ukraine's millennium of Christianity (988-1988). The stove tiles depict festival practices and daily life. A pokutia, or place of honor, is defined by the benches and the traditional icons of St. Nicholas, the Mother of God, Christ the Teacher, and St. George. The chalkboard doors bearing the Tree of Life are surmounted by three Cyrillic alphabets used in Ukraine in the 11th, 17th, and 19th centuries.

   On the right wall, a copper bas-relief depicts the development of Ukrainian culture over the millennia. It portrays cultural centers, historical figures, rituals, monuments, and the evolution of Ukrainian ornament.

   The massive crossbeam's elaborate carvings include a protective solar symbol and a quotation from Ukraine's bard Taras Shevchenko (1814-1861): "Learn, my brothers! Think and read ... Learn foreign thoughts, but do not shun your own country!"

   Beyond the wood posts, reminiscent of a gallery, the display case houses traditional Ukrainian art and crafts.