Description: These two photographs show Cleveland's Ukrainian Cultural Garden, located on the west side of the lower boulevard, opposite the Greek Garden level. The garden consitss of brick and stone courts connected by paved walks to produce a richly formal effect in a background setting of varying shades of green. The entrance is to the left court through a stone and iron gateway bearing bronze plaques and portrait reliefs by Frank L. Jirouch, representing Bohdan Khmelnitsky (1593-1657), leader of a revolt against the Poles in 1614, and Mikhail Hrushevsky (1866-1934), a historian, teacher, and author. The garden features three bronze busts of famous Ukrainians-Ivan Franko (1856-1916), poet, patriot, and folklorist Volodimir the Great (956-1015), first Christian ruler of the Ukraine and Taras G. Shevchenko (1814-1861), poet, teacher, reformer, liberator of Serfs in Russia whose popular poems have won him the name of the Father of Ukrainian Literature. These three busts are the work of Alexander Archipenko, world-famous master of modern art and one of the founders of cubism, who was born in Kiev, the ancient capital of Ukraine. The Cleveland Cultural Gardens, located along East Boulevard and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, are landscaped gardens with statuary honoring Cleveland's ethnic groups. During the dedication of the Shakespeare Garden in 1916, it was decided that similar sites should be prepared for each of the city's ethnic communities. The first of these gardens, the Hebrew garden, was established in 1926. On May 9, 1927 the city set aside areas of Rockefeller Park for future gardens. The Italian, German, Lithuanian, Slovak, and Ukrainian gardens were established in 1930; the Polish, Hungarian, Czech, and Yugoslav gardens in 1934; and the American, Russian, Irish, Greek, and Syrian gardens in 1938. Romanian, Estonian, Afro-American, Chinese, Finnish, and Indian gardens have since been created. Planning and fundraising for each garden was undertaken within the ethnic communities, while the Cleveland Cultural Garden Federation (established in 1925) oversaw planning and coordinated various joint programs. The Ihna Thayer Frary Audiovisual Collection was given to the Ohio Historical Society by Mr. Frary in two sections. One was in March of 1963 and the remainder in May of 1965 by his sons, Dr. Spencer G. and Allen T. Frary following their father's death. I.T. Frary (1873-1965) was the publicity and membership secretary for the Museum of Art in Cleveland, Ohio. He taught for many years at the Cleveland Institute of Art and Western Reserve University's School of Architecture. He did much research of Ohio and American architecture and was the author of seven major works and numerous scholarly articles on architectural and art history. One of his major works was Early Homes of Ohio published in 1936. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: Om3357_5987241_001
Subjects: Immigration and Ethnic Heritage; Arts and Entertainment; Architecture; Plants and Animals; Gardens; Ukrainian Americans; Sculptures
Places: Cleveland (Ohio); Cuyahoga County (Ohio)