You can sometimes come across rather unexpected historical artifacts abroad. As I had some spare time during one of my latest vacations in the British capital, I went to 200 Liverpool Road, the place of the Ukrainian Information Service. The aim, which I had nurtured since my student years, was to see the original plaster death mask of Stepan Bandera. Much to my surprise, the museum also displayed other, no less interesting, artifacts, such as the suit he was wearing when he was murdered, some personal belongings, and interior elements of the OUN leader’s office room. It would have been be a moral crime not to seize the opportunity to add one more, this time not less unique and, regretfully, little known, museum to our unprecedented project of virtual museums on the Ukraine Incognita website. Luckily, there was a photo camera and a tripod in my backpack – so it took me two hours, instead of the planned 20 minutes, to examine the museum. As a result, Den can again lift the veil of a little-known Ukrainian heritage, and we can take the 17th online museum tour. This time, the background text is read by Vasyl Oleskiv, Bandera’s comrade-in-arms and former OUN council head.
I will never tire to recall that, among our unprecedented (I say it without false modesty that we are the first and so far the only to do this kind of job) online excursions are those to Kyrylo Rozymovsky’s Palace in Baturyn, the Trypillia Museum, the Volhynia Icon Museum in Lutsk, the Stravinsky Museum in Ustylug, at al. If one cannot afford to travel, why not visit these places online? Moreover, to paraphrase the well-known words, “there is still so much incredible in Ukraine.”
I suggest you read my extended reflections on this in my Ukraine Incognita blog.
