Mennonite Heritage Village in Steinbach has been gifted a roof tile believed to have been made by Mennonites in Ukraine at least one hundred years ago.

The tile was delivered to the museum by Steinbach Mayor Chris Goertzen who spent time last year in Ukraine. He says it has a symbolic connection between the Mennonites that created it and those that immigrated to the Steinbach area.

"Steinbach has a historical connection to the city of Zaporizhia, Ukraine," he says. "This piece of history is a symbol of the connection between our two communities, representing both our past and present."

Barry Dyck is Executive Director at MHV. He says the tile is significant because of the story behind it. Dyck says it is believed the tile was made in the early 1900's. During that era, Mennonites were involved in many industrial activities there. Dyck explains after the 1920's, things went south for the Mennonites who closed their businesses and left.

"Our best information is that it comes from a Wiens factory in the community of Halbstadt," says Dyck. "We understand it to have been manufactured by Mennonite people."

According to MHV, the Jakob Wiens brick factory was established in 1805. In 1908, the Wiens factory was one of five businesses in the village. Today that village is called Kutozovka and according to one source written in 2003, very little of the Mennonite architecture remains.

"Mennonites were very industrious when they lived in Ukraine," explains Goertzen. "They built solid buildings, they used solid material and this roof tile is a solid piece of evidence of that."

Meanwhile, Goertzen says he was treated warmly by government officials while in Zaporizhia. And in fact, he has extended an invitation to the Deputy Mayor of that city to visit Steinbach in the coming year.

"It would be great to continue our dialogue on how we can better both of our communities and strengthen the historic bond that we have," says Goertzen.