U of A to document Prince Albert Ukrainian churches
With Saskatchewan having a long history of Ukrainian immigrants in the prairies, it’s easy to see their churches scattered throughout the province.
Unfortunately, as the hour glasses turns these places of worship are dying out with the population dispersing.
To help preserve the teachings and artifacts a group of scholars from the University of Alberta is travelling across the prairies documenting everything inside and out of Ukrainian and Russian churches and calling it the “Sanctuary Project”.
“It’s a project to photo-document all the Ukrainian and Russian churches in Alberta and Saskatchewan because there is a parallel project in Manitoba as well, and it’s inside and out to record every single artifact in those churches, every piece of artwork, every furnishing and in addition to, interview parishioners,” said John-Paul Himka, professor in the Department of History and Classics and participant in the Sanctuary Project.