Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska
Friday, February 11, 2011, 1 p.m.

U.S.-Ukraine Business Council (USUBC)
Washington, D.C., Tuesday, February 8, 2010

YOU ARE INVITED TO ATTEND a "Doing Business in Ukraine" Luncheon and Workshop and the opening of the "Glory to Ukraine Exhibition" at the Joslyn Art Museum, 2200 Dodge Street, Omaha, Nebraska on Friday, February 11, 2011.  The luncheon and workshop in Omaha, Nebraska are sponsored by the U.S.-Ukraine Business Council (USUBC) in cooperation with The Foundation for International Arts and Education (FIAE), a member of USUBC, and the Joslyn Art Museum.  Please send this invitation to your colleagues and others you think would be interested in attending this meeting in Omaha.

Presentations at the luncheon and workshop in Omaha will be made by (1) Sergey A. Taruta, leading Ukrainian businessman, philanthropist and chairman, Industrial Union of Donbass (ISD), one of the largest private companies in Ukraine; (2) Oleh Shamsur, former Ambassador of Ukraine to the USA, now a private business senior advisor, (3) Morgan Williams, Director, Government Affairs, Washington Office, for the SigmaBleyzer Private Equity Investment Management Group, who serves as President of the U.S.-Ukraine Business Council (USUBC) and (4) other top leaders of businesses investing in Ukraine. 

You will not want to miss the exciting events taking place in Omaha, Nebraska.  Please send this invitation to the representatives of your companies and organizations who work in the Midwest and invite them to attend these special events in Omaha. 

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS ----
Friday, February 11, 2011, Omaha, Nebraska

1.  BUSINESS LUNCHEON - 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. - Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha
2.  "DOING BUSINESS IN UKRAINE" WORKSHOP - 2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m., Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha
3.  PRIVATE OPENING OF "GLORY TO UKRAINE EXHIBITION" - 5:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m., Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha (additional information below)

RSVP: Attendees are welcome to attend one, two or all three of the events on Feb 11th.  Please register your attendance at Event 1, Event 2, and Event 3 as soon as possible to Morgan Williams, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . 
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THE GLORY OF UKRAINE TO BE EXHIBITED IN OMAHA, NEBRASKA
An Unprecedented Display of Ukrainian Spiritual and National Treasures in the U.S.

Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska, February, 2011

OMAHA, NEBRASKA - Comprising two distinct and rarely seen collections, The Glory of Ukraine is a two-part exhibition that forms an unprecedented celebration of the spiritual and national treasures of this large Eastern European nation, Icons and other religious objects from the famous churches, cathedrals, bell towers, and underground caverns of the nearly 1,000-year-old Monastery of the Caves join artifacts of ancient civilizations from the private PlaTar collection for a visually rich and historically intriguing presentation.

The Glory of Ukraine is on view at the Joslyn Art Museum [Omaha, Nebraska] February 12 through May 8, 2011.

In cooperation with the U.S.-Ukraine Business Council (USUBC) and with the support of the Embassy of Ukraine in the United States and the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine, The Glory of Ukraine is presented by the Foundation for International Arts £t Education (FIAE) (Bethesda, Maryland).

Exhibition organizers are FIAE, the Kyiv-Pechersk National Historical and Cultural Preserve (the museum in the Monastery of the Caves), and the Museum of National Cultural Heritage PlaTar. A small selection of works also comes from the Lviv National Museum Named for Andrei Sheptitsky.

In Omaha, major sponsors of the exhibition are Douglas County, Mutual of Omaha, Robert H. Storz Foundation, Valmont, and Gail and Michael Yanney. Additional support is provided by the Nebraska Arts Council.

The exhibition is slated for viewing in five U.S. cities - New York, NY; Washington, DC; Omaha, NE; Minneapolis, MN; and Houston, TX. The icons from the Monastery of the Caves — "Sacred images from the 11th to the 19th Centuries" — debuted at the Museum of Biblical Art (New York) and are on view this fall at Meridian International Center (Washington, DC) before concluding their tour at Joslyn in 2011.

The artifacts from the PlaTar Collection - "Golden Treasures and Lost Civilizations" — will premier at Joslyn (34 objects are included in the Meridian international Center display this fall, providing a preview of the show to come in Omaha).

The PlaTar pieces will travel from Omaha to the Houston Museum of Natural Science followed by The Museum of Russian Art (Minneapolis, MN). Joslyn is the only U.S. museum to display both components of The Glory of Ukraine exhibition in their entirety.

While a significant number of exhibitions have exposed American audiences to Russian iconography, there is little knowledge in the West of Ukrainian traditions. The icons in the exhibition are intended to fill that gap.

They can be enjoyed not only for their religious and cultural symbolism, but also purely for their amazing artistry. Meanwhile, the many PlaTar artifacts present museum-goers with fascinating and beautiful examples of ancient European pottery and metalwork from civilizations as old as 5,000 BC.

PART I: SACRED IMAGES FROM THE 11th TO THE 19th CENTURIES 

The Icons from the Monastery of the Caves

Most commonly a flat panel painting, an icon is a religious image used for devotion and often believed to possess miracle-working abilities. Deriving from Eastern Orthodox Christianity and Catholicism, icons depict holy beings or objects such as Jesus, Mary, saints, angels, or the cross.

The exhibition presents more than 80 objects, which, in addition to some of the finest icons from the Monastery of the Caves' extensive holdings, include some truly exceptional liturgical objects: chalices, ceremonial and altar crosses, silver gospel covers, and textiles displaying masterful needlework and embroidery.

During much of its early history, Ukraine's borders were open to the East and the West. Byzantine Orthodox and Catholic traditions mixed with the Renaissance and Baroque styles. Over the centuries, Ukrainian iconography was influenced by Russian, Greek, and Roman cultures. Many icons had folklore and legends as their basis and were enhanced with floral designs and the use of brilliant, rich blues, reds, and golds, making Ukrainian icons truly unique.

Exhibition highlights include:
          [1]  Mother of God Hodigitria, 1370 — One of the oldest existing Ukrainian icons.
          [2]  Congregation of All Saints of Pechersk Lavra, late 18th/early 19th centuries — Portraying 118 saints of the Monastery of the Caves, where their remains are still kept, upon their official canonization
          [3] Cross of the Holy Monk Mark of the Caves, 11th century - A rare pectoral reliquary cross (a hinged cross, suspended from the neck by a cord or chain, that opens to reveal a religious relic) that belonged to one of the early monks of the Monastery, Mark, who was responsible for burials in the caves.
          [4]  Royal Doors, 16th century — Royal Doors, also known as Holy Doors, are the central gates of the iconostasis in an Orthodox church leading to the altar. On this pair, among the earliest known sets, only the Evangelists are seen, which is unique in Ukrainian iconography.

ABOUT THE MONASTERY OF THE CAVES
The Monastery of the Caves, the oldest Orthodox Monastery in all of Eastern Europe, fuses nature with man-made structures created over nine centuries. The 57-acre site includes buildings, churches, and residential structures, as well as two unique cave complexes with underground labyrinths over 656 yards
long.

Created in 1051, the monastery, in Ukrainian, is called Kyiv-Pechersk — Kyiv for the location (Kiev) and Pechersk for the Ukrainian word for caves: pechery. The Monastery of the Caves is often referred to with the term "Lavra." Lavra is the highest honor given to monasteries, and the Monastery of the Caves received that designation in 1159.

PART II: GLODEN TREASURES AND LOST CIVILIZATIONS 

Artifacts and the PlaTar Collection
The artifacts in this section of the exhibition are from the PlaTar Collection (the private collection of Nikolai Platonov and Sergei Taruta) of thousands of objects from ancient civilizations that populated modern-day Ukraine. Among them are weapons, flint and copper tools, ritual objects, earthenware, and gold and silver jewelry. Of particular significance are a number of objects that date to the Trypillian culture.

Considered the greatest city of "Old Europe", Trypillia was the center of Neolithic pre-civilization, boasting some 15,000 inhabitants as early as 5,000 BC, and pre-dated the rise of the Romans, Chinese, Greeks, and Egyptians.

The Trypillians' large, urbanized communities flourished with technological, ideological, religious, and political structures. They developed techniques of metalworking and pottery making, as well as applied and decorative arts that precede all known markers of the development of civilization.

Other cultures represented in the exhibition include the ancient horse-riding, nomadic groups—the Cimmerians of Indo-European and the Scythians of Iranian origin (known for their gold objects), Sarmatians (an Iranian people flourishing from the 5th century be to the 4th century ad), Greeks, Celts, Goths, Huns, and the Khazar (a semi-nomadic Turkic people).

The splendid array of objects includes stone, flint, and copper tools and weapons; pottery and other ceramic materials; bronze sculpture; extraordinary transparent glass, bronze, gold and silver vessels; an exquisite silver headdress and gold jewelry, including pendants, rings, bracelets, and necklaces with precious stones; and objects of Christian worship: relics, a gold chalice, and crosses.