[an error occurred while processing this directive]	Ivan Franko and Shevchenko Busts Installed at Cultural Gardens
	In 1936, Cleveland's Ukrainian community commissioned three statues from Alexander Archipenko - a bust of Taras Shevchenko, a bust of Ivan Franko and a figure of Volodymyr the Great. The United Ukrainian Organizations raised thousands of dollars for the three figures and for the construction of a Ukrainian Garden at the Cultural Garden complex on A bust of the Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko by Alexander Archipenko, is a companion to the bust of Ivan Franko. The Shevchenko bust is part of the UMA's permanent collection. (File photo) Liberty Boulevard (now Martin Luther King Drive). In the 1970s, widespread vandalism struck the Gardens and the bronze statues of Shevchenko and Volodymyr vanished along with dozens of other monuments, presumably sold for scrap. The city then removed the Franko bust and others and warehoused them for safekeeping.      In the past decade, the Cultural Gardens have been revived. The City of Cleveland and federal governments spent money to improve Martin Luther King Drive and the Gardens with a bike trail, landscaping and repairs. Activists in various ethnic communities cleaned their respective gardens, planted flowers and took measures to replace some of the lost monuments.      The Ukrainian community was fortunate to have two energetic leaders - Lucia Lebid and Lena Pogrebinsky - who worked with the Cultural Garden Association and mobilized people in the community to restore the complex in general and the Ukrainian Garden in particular. Fortunately for the Ukrainian community, the UMA has had the original plaster casts of Archipenko's Shevchenko and Franko busts on display for many years. The statue of Lesya Ukrainka at Cleveland's Cultural Gardens (File photo)      Working with the President of the United Ukrainian Organizations, Vasyl Liscynesky, Lebid and Pogrebinsky, commissioned sculptor Yevhen Prokopov to make copies of the Franko and Shevchenko busts based on the Shevchenko version found at the UMA and the bronze Franko that was in the City Warehouse. The copies are made of a non-metallic composition that has no metal value.      The busts were unveiled at the One World Day Celebration at the Cultural Gardens on September 9th. As for the original bronze version of the Franko bust, the United Ukrainian Organizations reclaimed it from city storage and deposited it at the UMA where it is now on display. (Back to Table of Contents)
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