The Russian <I>matreshka</I> doll and Soviet Budenny cap

In 2012 Ukraine and Poland will host the European soccer championship. There is much to be done to prepare for this important event. Officials have promised that within five years the infrastructure of the entire country will be expanded. However, Culture and Tourism Minister Yurii Bohutsky emphasizes that the issue of tourist attractiveness is no less important. What will foreign tourists do between soccer games? What Ukrainian souvenirs will they be able to buy?

Ivan Bobkov, a potter and art teacher at the Shevchenko Children’s Art School, is positive that souvenirs have to attract tourists through their national flavor. “I am happy that foreigners stopped buying matreshkas and Budenny caps en masse,” says Bobkov. “But are potters, for example, ready to literally mold the souvenir face of Ukraine?” Bobkov answers in the affirmative. “If 2012 depends on me personally and my actions, I can guarantee that I will be ready. I will have things with which to impress foreign guests,” says the potter and adds: “But I won’t be standing with my pots on the soccer field or along highways. Where can I find a place to sell? They are threatening to close down Pyrohove and start building something there, and to do restoration work on Andriivsky uzviz until 2012.”

According to Bobkov, the popularity of pottery is growing with each passing year, but Ukrainian folk potters do not see it as their goal to blindly follow consumer wishes. The annual fair in Pyrohove is attended by President Yushchenko. “But the fair is more for pleasure than for the specific goal of making money. That is why we are waiting for orders and working,” says Bobkov.

What is a good way to price souvenirs of this kind? A nice ceramic vase would cost the average Ukrainian a pretty penny, whereas the price is affordable for foreigners. “I worked in Poland for a while. Above all they value handicraft,” says Bobkov. In Ukraine, he adds, hand- made craft items are almost completely unappreciated. “We have one more problem-cast-iron items. At first glance, they don’t seem to compete with us, but a flower pot in a store costs about 6 hryvnias while ours would cost around 16. But our pots are made by hand, not machines. That explains the price difference.” Now potters are faced with another problem: choice deposits of clay are being purchased by big businesses, so independent potters have to get clay at urban construction sites.

Ukrainian potters use ancient techniques and plan to put their best foot forward when foreign guests arrive en masse. They also hope that their trade will develop in the future.

In contrast, Tetiana Lohvinova, a craftsman from Andriivsky uzviz, does not believe that pottery will lead the way to offering Ukrainian art to foreigners. She is all in favor of wood and linen items. “Large clay items are bulky to transport, although they may be more affordable and profitable,” she says. According to her observations, matreshkas and Budenny caps are bought primarily by Americans, while Europeans want to buy souvenirs with an ethnic flavor.

Lohvinova is looking ahead confidently. “Andriivsky uzviz is scheduled for reconstruction, but the authorities have promised not to touch craftsmen and painters, so we are looking forward to a great influx of tourists,” she says.

European soccer fans will be beating a path not only to the stadiums but to such centers of Ukrainian culture as Andriivsky uzviz. Foreign guests will have plenty to buy there-provided, of course, that the authorities lend an ear to the demands of local craftsmen: don’t hinder us and give us the liberty to create freely and an opportunity to cash in on the championship.