Cool Place That Matters: Kurdish Museum in Prospect Heights

Call us uninformed, but we had no idea that there even was a Kurdish Library and Museum in Prospect Heights, let alone that it holds one of the largest collections of Kurdish materials and artifacts in the Western Hemisphere, until the Municipal Arts Society included it as one of their "Place That Matters of the Week." We'll let the good people at the MAS explain:

Vera Beaudin Saedpour founded and collected the material for the Kurdish Library and Museum, at 144 Underhill Ave. The space overflows with Kurdish rugs and textiles, artwork and artifacts, texts and manuscripts. It’s house as museum — but, unlike typical “house museums,” it's dedicated to people from a region some 6,000 miles away.

Ms. Saedpour still runs the library, as well as editing a pair of publications about Kurds. You can visit the library from 1:00 – 5:00 p.m., Sunday through Thursday, and learn more about the Kurds. (Beware, though — there’s no catalogue of any kind.) Or you can visit just to see a unique New York institution. (The library’s phone number is 718-783-7930; calling ahead may be wise.)

The "Place That Matters" series has included the wonderful Lemon Ice King of Corona and the unique Footbridge Across Sheepshead Bay.