Patriarch Slipyj Museum

The museum's exhibits started on the base of materials from Dr. Roman Smyk's (pictured) collection.

Person in charge: Iryna Kolomyyets'
Tel.: (380-322) 76-27-77
Tel/fax: (380-322) 79-85-96
e-mail: inbox@ichistory.org

On September 21 1997 a memorial museum dedicated to Josyf Cardinal Kobernytskyj-Slipyj, Patriarch of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, was officially opened on the premises of the Lviv Theological Academy. The plan to create the museum was first proposed in September 1992, when the patriarch's mortal remains were transferred from Rome and re-interred in Lviv. At that time a commemorative stamp exhibition was being held with materials collected by a physician from the USA, Dr. Roman Smyk. A famous popularizer and propagator of the idea of a Ukrainian Catholic Patriarchate, Dr. Smyk had been building his collection for 30 years. He proposed founding a museum dedicated to the memory of Patriarch Josyf Slipyj and all the confessors of the faith who suffered for the sake of the Church in Ukraine.

Through the efforts and the donations of Dr. Roman Smyk and the Greek Catholic intelligentsia in Lviv and with the encouragement of the rectorate and the entire Lviv Theological Academy, the museum was created within the walls of the Academy.

The museum's exhibits started on the base of materials from Dr. Roman Smyk's collection and with contemporary materials from the collection of Roman Byshkevych, head of the Lviv Regional Organization of the Ukrainian Philatelists Society, and from other documents and photographs. On display in the museum are: private postal stamps and envelopes, letters and commemorative seals dedicated to Josyf Slipyj from the times of his travels to places in the Ukrainian diaspora from 1963 to 1984, commemorative medallions, tokens and ribbons, works of poetry which the faithful dedicated to him, reports from the various places where he lived, official postal stamps and envelopes, special commemorative postal seals issued by independent Ukraine from 1992 to 1994, documentary photographs from the patriarch's funeral in Rome, programs from the exhibitions of philatelists and other commemorative publications and other materials.

The organizers of the museum expect that the number of items on exhibition connected with the life and activities of Josyf Slipyj will grow with donations from private individuals and organizations. These could be personal items from the patriarch, daily or liturgical clothing, church items and work items, books, manuscripts, documents and other items which could be added to the display.