June 17, 2017, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Culture and National Heritage of Poland Piotr Gliński arrived in the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast to familiarize himself with the ongoing restoration work being carried out at the astronomical and meteorological Observatory on Pip Ivan – a project set up by Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University and the University of Warsaw with support from the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. At the interview to the White Elephant website he expressed high hopes that the restoration work would have been completed in a year or two. Besides, the Deputy Prime Minister made the first ever call to Warsaw from the rescue station in the Observatory.
Ihor Tsependa, Rector of Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University, and Jan Malicki, Head of the Center for East European Studies of the University of Warsaw, informed their Polish partners about the current restoration progress. The visitors approved of the completion status of the restoration work as well as had a look at the plan for completing the next steps in the site renovation. Ihor Tsependa and Jan Malicki signed the “Letter of Intent” in which the parties agreed to continue the restoration work on the site in 2017; the project will be sponsored by the Protection of Cultural Heritage Overseas Programme (the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland) and by the Polish Development Cooperation Programme (the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland) – “Small Grants Fund” of the Embassy of Poland in Kyiv.
Another Pro Memoria document was signed by all the delegates. Mr Glinski also made the first entry in the Distinguished Visitors’ Book that the Biały Słoń Observatory (English: the White Elephant Observatory – a Polish name for the Observatory on Pip Ivan) now has.
“I am deeply moved that so many people are here with us, and that those who had put forward the idea to restore the site showed us the Observatory built upon the initiative of the University of Warsaw; and now Precarpathian University has adopted this idea and is renovating the place together with the University of Warsaw with support from the local authorities and the Polish institutions. I am happy that the idea is being brought into effect. Although the current weather does not favour a nice walk in the mountains, the welcoming atmosphere created by the receiving party totally compensates for it. I am sure that the Observatory will have been restored in a year or two. Now the conditions at the Observatory already allow rescuers to work and tourists to warm up”, said Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Culture and National Heritage of Poland Piotr Gliński at his interview to the White Elephant website.
As to the role of the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage in the restoration project, the Deputy Prime Minister pointed out that it was doing everything possible to support the ambitious idea and would continue to provide help within the range of its grant opportunities.
As Piotr Gliński said, “There is no doubt that we will continue furthering the project. We have got a special programme aimed at protecting cultural heritage overseas. This heritage once used to be Polish; now it belongs to Ukraine. And we, of course, are ready for cooperation”.
Jan Piekło, Polish Ambassador to Ukraine, together with the Deputy Prime Minister had also visited the International Scientific Center “Observatory” for the first time.