Invitation: Friday, June 3, luncheon, 12:00 to 2:30 p.m.; Exhibition opening Houston Museum of National Science, 6:00 p.m., Houston, Texas

U.S.-Ukraine Business Council (USUBC),
Washington, D.C.,Tuesday, May 24, 2011

WASHINGTON, D.C. - YOU ARE INVITED TO ATTEND the "Ukrainian Business & Investment Luncheon & Roundtable" in downtown Houston, Texas and the opening of the Glory to Ukraine: Ancient Ukraine: Golden Treasures & Lost Civilizations and Sacred Images from the 11th to the 19th Centuries Exhibition" at the Houston Museum of Natural Science in Houston, Texas, on Friday, June 3, 2011.

The "Ukrainian Business & Investment Luncheon and Roundtable," will be held from 12:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Petroleum Club of Houston, 500 Bell Street, #4300. The gala opening of the "Ancient Ukraine: Golden Treasures & Lost Civilizations and Sacred Images from the 11th to the 19th Centuries" exhibition will be held at the Houston Museum of National Science, www.hmns.org, 5555 Hermann Park Drive, Houston, TX 77030 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:45 p.m. (see information about the Glory to Ukraine Exhibition below).

LUNCHEON: AMBASSADOR OLEXANDER MOTSYK AND PANEL OF EXPERTS
The "Ukrainian Business & Investment Luncheon & Roundtable" will feature the Honorable Olexander Motsyk, Ambassador of Ukraine to the USA, and a panel of top business leaders whose companies are doing business and investing in Ukraine. There will be a Q&A session following the panel discussion. Presenters and panelists will include:

• The Honorable Olexander Motsyk, Ambassador of Ukraine to the USA
• Sergey A. Taruta, leading Ukrainian businessman, philanthropist & chairman, Industrial Union of Donbass (ISD), www.isd.com.ua/en/, one of the largest private companies,
• Michael Bleyzer, Founder and President, SigmaBleyzer, www.SigmaBleyzer.com, Houston, TX, one of the largest private equity investors in Ukraine.
• Kerry Tassopoulos, Vice President, Government Relations and Compliance, Mary Kay Inc.
• Gene Van Dyke, Chairman, CEO & President, Vanco Exploration Company
• Ambassador Oleh Shamshur, Senior Advisor, PBN Company, Member of the Board of Directors, Phoenix Capital.
• Andrew A. Pidgirsky, Partner, Adams and Reese LLP.
• Bohdan Bejmuk, Chairman of the Review Board, NASA Constellation Program
• Craig Phillips, Chief Executive Officer, Volia Software

Welcoming remarks will be brought by Greg Buchai, Honorary Consul General of Ukraine, Houston, TX. 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) will moderate the business luncheon and the panel of business experts roundtable.

HOUSTON LUNCHEON COORDINATING COMMITTEE - ANDREW PIDGIRSKY
The chair of the Coordinating Committee in Houston for the "Ukrainian Business & Investment Luncheon & Roundtable" is Andrew A. Pidgirsky, Partner, Adams and Reese LLP, Houston. Andrew represents the Ukrainian American Bar Association (UABA), http://www.uaba.org/, on the Board of Directors of the U.S.-Ukraine Business Council (USUBC) and is a member of the USUBC Executive Committee. Andrew Pidgirsky can be contacted at 713 308 0138, mobile: 713 492 6183, e-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

The Ukrainian business luncheon and roundtable in Houston, Texas is sponsored by the over 160 members of U.S.-Ukraine Business Council (USUBC), www.usubc.org. The Glory to Ukraine: Golden Treasures and Sacred Images Exhibition is sponsored by The Foundation for International Arts and Education (FIAE), www.fiae.org, Gregory Guroff, President, a member of USUBC, and the Houston Museum of Natural Science, www.hmns.org.

PASS THE WORD TO YOUR FRIENDS AND COLLEAGUES IN TEXAS
You will not want to miss the exciting events taking place in Houston, Texas on Friday, June 3, 2011. Please send this invitation to your friends and to the representatives of your companies and organizations who work in the Midwest/Southwest part of the USA and invite them to attend these special events in Houston, TX.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS -- Friday, June 3, Houston, Texas

• "UKRAINIAN BUSINESS & INVESTMENT LUNCHEON AND ROUNDTABLE"- 12:00 p.m. p.m. to 2:30 p.m. - at the Petroleum Club of Houston, 500 Bell Street #4300., Friday, June, 3, 2011.
• OPENING: "ANCIENT UKRAINE: GOLDEN TREASURES & LOST CIVILIZATIONS AND SACRED IMAGES FROM THE 11TH TO THE 19TH CENTURY EXHIBITION" 6:00 - 8:45 p.m., Houston Museum of Natural Science, www.hmns.org, 5555 Hermann Park Drive, Houston, TX 77030, Friday, June 3, 2011.

RSVP: Attendees are welcome to attend one or both of the events. Please register your attendance at Event 1 (luncheon) and/or Event 2 (exhibition) as soon as possible to Morgan Williams, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . We hope to see you in Houston on June 3, 2011.
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6,000 YEARS OF ARCHAEOLOGY! ANCIENT UKRAINE OPENS IN HOUSTON
Ancient Ukraine - Golden Treasures and Lost Civilizations and Sacred Images, 11th to 19th Centuries

Houston Museum of Natural Science, Houston Texas, Monday, May 16, 2011

HOUSTON - On tour for the first time in the United States, the exhibit Glory to Ukraine: Golden Treasures and Lost Civilizations and Sacred Images from the 11th to the 19th Centuries covers 6,000 years of history and prehistory of various cultures that once inhabited the territory of modern Ukraine. A gala opening for the exhibition will take place at the Houston Museum of Natural Sciences, 5555 Hermann Park Drive, Houston, Texas on Friday evening, June 3, 2011 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:45 p.m.

Ancient trade routes crossed this part of the world for countless centuries. As a result, trade items from many of the Old World’s civilizations have been found in Ukraine.

The Beginning: Trypilian culture
The exhibit starts with the Trypilian culture, dating back to 5,000 BC. Pottery decorated with red and black paints, sacred symbols, as well as temple models and animal sculptures, will be on display.

Scythian Style
Between the 7th and 3rd centuries BC, the Scythians, known for their beautiful stylized animal-shaped ornaments, roamed what is now Ukraine. The fertile soil of the region attracted Greek settlers as early as the 7th century BC.

Hellenistic Influences
Greek presence lasted well into the Hellenistic period (around the 2nd century BC), represented here by a dazzling array of bronze sculpture, exquisite gold jewelry, extraordinary rhytons (drinking cups partially in the shape of a ram), black-slip pottery, and amphorae.

Roman Might
Rome’s might reached the Black Sea—and the shores of Ukraine—as early as the 1st century BC. We see Roman presence reflected in art forms that blend traditions from both Greek and Roman worlds. Among the items on display are bright red and orange pottery, transparent glass, bronze and silver vessels, and jewelry incorporating precious stones, filigree, granulation and inlays.

Byzantine Treasures
Discover treasures from the Byzantine Empire, the ancient Slavic state of Kyivan Rus’, and various steppe nomads, spanning the 5th through the 13th centuries AD. Utensils, relics, chalices, kolts, pendants, rings, bracelets and necklaces provide an idea of the array of objects used by the inhabitants of medieval Ukraine.

This exhibit is presented by the Foundation for International Arts & Education of Bethesda, Maryland in cooperation with the U.S.-Ukraine Business Council (www.usubc.org) and with the support of the Embassy of Ukraine in the United States and the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine.

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:

• Mother of God Hodigitria, 1370 — One of the oldest existing Ukrainian icons.
• 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
• 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.
• 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: GOLDEN TREASURES AND LOST CIVILIZATIONS

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.

LINK: USUBC_Houston_Luncheon_Flyer_June_3_2011.pdf