Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village

The Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village ( _uk. Село спадщини української культури, "Selo spadshchyny ukrayins’koyi kul’tury") is an open-air museum that uses costumed historical interpreters to recreate pioneer settlements in east central Alberta, Canada. In particular it shows the lives of Ukrainian Canadian settlers form the years 1892 to 1930. Buildings from the surrounding communities have been moved to the historic site and restored to various years within the first part of the twentieth century.

"The Village", as it is colloquially known, makes very strong commitment to historical authenticity and the concept of living history. The Village uses a technique known as first-person interpretation which requires that the costumed performers remain "in character" at all times (or as much as is feasibly possible). Actors answer all questions as if they believe it is 1928 or whatever year their building portrays. Although this technique is off-putting for some visitors at first, it allows for a much stronger experience of immersion in history than traditional third-person interpretation where the actor acknowledges that he is, in fact, in a museum.

The Village is located east of Edmonton on the Yellowhead highway on the eastern edge of Elk Island National Park.

Monuments

* Statue of Vasyl' Stefanyk - by Leo Mol
* Canadian Legion Monument
* Ukrainian Canadian Internment Camp Monument
* Pioneer Family Monunment
* Joseph Oleskow Monument
* Alberta Centenary Pioneer Monument
* Centennial Orchard

Buildings

The Historic Site is divided into thematic areas: the Overview, the Farmsteads, the Rural Community, and the railway-centred Town site.

"Note: the spellings used for names and locations are those from the year the building portrays, and may not match those in use today"

Name (indicates family name of original owners or name of original town location) and year restored to:

Overview

The overview gives in introduction to Ukrainian immigration to Canada by showing the homes of two important Ukrainian Canadian families. Iwan Pylypow was the first Ukrainian immigrant to Canada, his third house in Canada is preserved here. His family was Galician. The second house is that of the Hawreliak family, Bukovynian clan who settled in the Shandro area. By the 1920s this family was quite successful, and the house preserved here has ten bedrooms and a cistern that provides water to the kitchen. The family also became politically active, and the nephew of the owner of this house, William Hawrelak later became the first Ukrainian Canadian mayor of Edmonton.

* Pylypow House (Edna-Star, Alberta; 1926-28)
* Hawreliak House (Shandro, Alberta 1927)

Farmstead

Shows different farms from different eras and areas at different stages of development.

The newly arrived immigrants

* "Burdei" (a dugout-style shelter, somewhat between a sod house and log cabin) (recreation, circa 1900)

=The Bukovynian settlers=

* Lakusta Barn (1918)
* Lukusta Granary (1918)
* Grekul House (1918-1919)
* Roswiyczuk Granary (1918)
* Makowichuck Barn (1918)

=The Galician settlers=

under construction

The later immigrants

* Slemko House (1919)
* Slemko Granary (1919)
* Slemko Barn (1919)
* Roadside Shrine

Ukrainian-Canadian farmers

* Kitt Threshing Machine Shed (1930)
* Yurko House (Boian, Alberta, 1930)
* Chernochan Machine Shed (1925-28)

Rural community

* Luzan Grocery (Luzan, Alberta; 1929)
* Kiew Hall, a Community centre and member of the Ukrainian Labour Farmer Temple Association (Kiew, Alberta; 1930)
* St. Nicholas Russo-Greek Orthodox Church (Kiew, Alberta; 1925-30)
* Kolody Sawmill
* "Russia" School and Barn (Musidora, Alberta; 1927)
* St. Nicholas Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (also known as St. Mary's or Hlus' Church, Buchach, Alberta)
* Andrew Alberta Provincial Police Post (Andrew, Alberta1927-28)

Town site

* St. Vladimir's Ukrainian Greek Orthodox Church (Vegreville, Alberta; 1934)
* Wostok Hardware Store (Wostok, Alberta; 1937)
* Market Square
* Radway Livery Barn (Radway, Alberta; 1929)
* Pawlenchuck Lot Barn (1930)
* Bellis Home Grain Co. Elevator (Bellis, Alberta; 1928)
* Bellis Canadian National Railway Station (1928)
* Hillard Hotel (Hillard, Alberta; 1928)
* Alberta Lumber Co. Office and Yard (Lamont, Alberta; 1928)
* Demchuck Blacksmith Shop (Myrnam, Alberta; 1929)
* Demchuck House (1929)
* Woodworking Shop (1930)

ee also

*Kalyna Country, an ecomuseum region, of which the village is a part

External links

* Alberta Community Development - [http://www.cd.gov.ab.ca/uchv Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village]
* University of Alberta - [http://tapor.ualberta.ca/heritagevillage Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village]
* Google Map to Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada [http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=&saddr=edmonton,+ab&daddr=Unknown+road+%4053.568380,+-112.796120&mrcr=0&mrsp=1&sz=17&mra=pe&sll=53.568192,-112.794431&sspn=0.003651,0.009924&ie=UTF8&t=h&z=10&om=1 Route Map] [http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=&saddr=edmonton,+ab&daddr=Unknown+road+%4053.568380,+-112.796120&mrcr=0&mrsp=1&sz=17&mra=pe&sll=53.568192,-112.794431&sspn=0.003651,0.009924&ie=UTF8&ll=53.568243,-112.793702&spn=0.003651,0.009924&t=h&z=17&om=1 Overhead view]