Polish-Ukrainian Alpine Rescue Station – opening ceremony

16-09-17 Promocja 0 comment

On September 16, 2017, at the top of Pop Ivan mountain, in the presence of Ministers from Poland and Ukraine took place

an opening ceremony of the

Polish-Ukrainian Alpine Rescue Station.

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Jan Malicki (Director of Eastern Europe Studies), Igor Tsependa (Rector of the Vassil Stefanyk National University) and Roman Greba (Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine) openedThe celebration was accompanied by the dedication of the object by the priests of the three rites. At the ceremony, the director of Malicki, as the author of the whole initiative was solemnly honored by the colonel of the Ukrainian DSNS. The opening ceremony was accompanied by a ceremonial unveiling of information boards (in Polish, Ukrainian and English). Please visit our YouTube channel and watch a video from the ceremony

After the opening ceremony of the Station, Malicki invited guests to the Observatory`s building and discussed the progress of the reconstruction works.

 

The Inter-War Observatory

The Astronomical-Meteorological Observatory of the University of Warsaw on top of Pip Ivan in the Chornohora mountain range

Pip Ivan (2022 m), located 20 km from the urban-type settlement of Verkhovyna (f. Żabie), is the third tallest peak in this part of the Eastern Carpathians, after Hoverla (2058 m) and Brebeneskul (2037 m). In the period 1918-1939, this area lay within the Second Polish Republic. The idea of building an astronomical and meteorological observatory on Pip Ivan was initiated in the mid-1930s. Due to the fact that the mountain was located on the Polish-Czechoslovakian border (as of 1939, the Polish-Hungarian border), a border watchtower of the Border Protection Corps (KOP) was placed here.

In 1935, the board of the Airborne and Antigas Defence League (LOPP) announced a closed architectural design competition for the “Marshal Józef Piłsudski Astronomical Observatory”. The competition jury awarded the highest marks to the project by architectural engineers Kazimierz Marczewski and Jan Pohoski, from the Office for Regional Planning for Podhale and Hutsuliya.

Intensive construction work began in 1936. A symbolic cornerstone was laid in the foundations of the building and consecrated on 5 September that same year. The observatory building was constructed in an L-shape and topped with a tower equipped with a dome. Contemporary accounts of the building describe its construction as “monumental”. The building contained five floors, forty-three rooms and fifty-seven windows.

The observatory was handed over for official use on 29 July 1938, and functioned as both an astronomical and meteorological observatory. The astronomical section functioned under the auspices of the University of Warsaw and was a branch of the university’s Astronomical Observatory, while the meteorological section was attached to the National Meteorological Institute in Warsaw. The building also housed soldiers of the KOP. Władysław Midowicz was nominated director of the observatory, a Polish geographer and meteorologist born in 1907 in nearby Mykulychyn, and previously head of a shelter in the Beskid Mountains.

The observatory functioned for a period of just one year. On 1 September 1939, World War II began with the German invasion of Poland, and on 17 September, the aggression of the Soviet Union took place. On 18 September, all personnel and KOP troops were evacuated from the observatory. In accord with regulations, part of the equipment and documentation  were destroyed, and some of the astronomical equipment was packed up and sent to Hungary. Since then, the observatory building has been left unattended, was successively plundered and fell into ever-greater ruin with each passing year…

The Observatory Today

The reconstruction of the building jointly by the Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University and the Centre for East European Studies of the University of Warsaw, with the financial support of the Government of Poland, the kindness of the Ukrainian authorities and the aid of sponsors

For almost sixty-five years, the building was left abandoned and unused.

The idea to renovate the observatory and repurpose it, giving it new purpose and functions, was developed jointly by the Centre for East European Studies of the University of Warsaw and the Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University in Ivano-Frankivsk.

The project, part of the larger “Polish-Ukrainian House of Meetings for Academic Youth” programme, was presented to the presidents of Poland and Ukraine in July 2007, and both demonstrated their enthusiasm by putting it in their joint communique entitled “Joint Challenge – New Dimensions of Strategic Partnership” in December 2007, as well as the “Roadmap for Cooperation between Poland and Ukraine”, signed in September 2009. Thus, the project came under the patronage of the Presidents of Poland and Ukraine.

By decision of the Verkhovyna District Council and Ivano-Frankivsk Regional Council the building of the former Observatory was handed over to the Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University in Ivano-Frankivsk.

The restoration project for the inter-war building of the Astronomical Observatory UW on Pip Ivan received its first grant in 2011 from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland. In accordance with the guidelines for this subsidy, preliminary work was carried out, based on assessing the architectural-technical project for the observatory renovation, as well as preparing renovation plans and a timetable.

Throughout the period 2012-2017, the project received further subsidies to realise conservation-preservation work. Most of the work was financed by funds from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland, as well as the Development Cooperation Programme of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland in 2016-2017.

The Observatory Tomorrow

Activity within the framework below, especially the International Scientific Station “Obserwatorium”, organised by Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University in Ivano-Frankivsk and the Centre for East European Studies of the University of Warsaw.

The refurbished observatory can be utilised as more than just an astronomical and meteorological observatory. Taking into account the fact that the building is located on one of the highest peaks of the Chornohora mountain range – the tallest range in the Ukrainian Carpathians – the site can be utilised in a wide variety of multi-faceted roles.

A completely new undertaking will be an alpine rescue service within the Watchtower Observatory, run by the SESU board in the Ivano-Frankivsk region, in cooperation with GOPR-Bieszczady. Another concept  that may be realised is the organization of Polish, Ukrainian and international individual or team research, and student internships in the fields of biology, botany, environmental protection, geology, astronomy, geography, meteorology, climatology, tourism and so on.

The International Scientific Station “Obserwatorium”, organised by the Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University in Ivano-Frankivsk and the Centre for East European Studies of the University of Warsaw will serve as a platform to facilitate this research.

An expanded list of possible purposes for the observatory include the following:

  1. Astronomical observatory
  2. Meteorological observatory
  3. Research laboratory for scientists
  4. A base for students to carry out internships
  5. An alpine academic shelter
  6. Polish-Ukrainian Alpine Rescue Station
  7. Polish-Ukrainian Alpine Rescue School

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The Project is co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland

The Project co-financed by the Polish Development Cooperation Programme of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs