Discovering the Ivan Franko Museum

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This article was published 12/11/2014 (2066 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

On Friday, Sept. 6, 2013 , clue  No. 60 Across of the New York Times Crossword asked for Winnipeg’s___ Franko Museum.

One wonders how many cruciverbalists got "Ivan," that day, or even knew that such a museum exists in this city.

The museum is located on the main floor of Ivan Franko Manor, which is attached to the Ukrainian Labour Temple at 200 McGregor Street.

The Ivan Franko Museum in Winnipeg — which was established in 1956 to mark the 100th anniversary of Franko’s birth — is the only one in the world outside Ukraine dedicated to this outstanding Ukrainian artist and patriot, says Brent Stearns, president of the museum’s board of directors and library society.

The museum’s four rooms feature exhibits ranging from original paintings, photos, books, and numerous other artifacts donated by museums and galleries in Kyiv and Lviv, Ukraine, as well as individuals, over the years, Stearns said during a tour of the museum.

Ivan Yakovych Franko (1856 –1916) was a Ukrainian poet, writer, social and literary critic, journalist, interpreter, economist, political activist, doctor of philosophy, ethnographer and the author of the first detective novels and modern poetry in the Ukrainian language.

He was a political radical,and a founder of the socialist and nationalist movement in western Ukraine. In addition to his own literary work, he also translated the works of such renowned figures as William Shakespeare, Lord Byron, Pedro Calderón de la Barca, Dante Alighieri, Victor Hugo, Adam Mickiewicz, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich Schiller into the Ukrainian language.

"Ivan Franko left an immense legacy of over 6,000 works of prose, drama, literary criticism, as well as studies on linguistics, history, economics, folklore and ethnography," notes a pamphlet.

"Franko was badly shaken and utterly depressed by the tragedy of hundreds of thousands of his fellow countrymen being forced to leave their homeland, and to cross the ocean in search of a better life."

He died in poverty on May 28, 1916 but, long with Taras Shevchenko, has had a tremendous impact on modern literary and political thought in Ukraine.

The museum functions primarily through the efforts of volunteers and relies upon the largesse of private individuals as its source of operating funds, said Stearns, adding that admission to the museum has always been free of charge.

Martin Zeilig is a community correspondent for the North End. You can contact him at mzeilig@mymts.net