Ukrainian Free University sponsors architecture restoration workshop

MUNICH - Among the numerous co-curricular academic activities and programs sponsored by the Ukrainian Free University of Munich, the most prestigious and popular one is a two-week workshop on the upkeep and restoration of monuments.

In cooperation with the Bavarian State Office of Monuments and Restoration headed by Dr. Egon Greipl and the department of architecture of the Polytechnic University of Lviv, chaired by Prof. Andrii Rudnytskyi, the program enables Ukrainian students of architecture and art history to acquire theoretical knowledge and practical know-how about the upkeep of monuments and the restoration of art objects.

It should be added that the Free State of Bavaria is ideally suited to offer such learning experience, not only because of its plethora of churches, monasteries, castles and historic buildings - the official register of monuments in Bavaria lists over 120,000 such objects - some of which are over 1,000 years old, but also because of the dynamic leadership in this era provided by Hans Zehetmair, Bavarian minister of sciences, research and the arts.

The program was initiated last year and, because of its success, it is being repeated this summer. It affords young Ukrainian scholars of art history and architecture an opportunity to expand and update knowledge in their area of expertise. The participants of the workshop learn how to restore frescoes of ancient Bavarian Baroque cathedrals as well as how to repair old and run-down farms. Such practical experiences are supplemented by the lectures of Prof. Reinhard Heydenreuter (UFU) and Dr. Greipl.

Seven junior scholars, headed by Dr. Yurii Rochniak of the Lviv Polytechnic University, are currently making good use of the opportunities afforded to them; they will have ample chances to apply their newly honed shills to various art objects upon their return to Ukraine.

The workshop is but one of numerous examples of the mediating services performed by the Ukrainian Free University in the field of education, which the UFU sees as a means to enhance and strengthen cooperation between Ukraine and Bavaria, and help pave the way for Ukraine's eventual entry into the European Union.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, July 28, 2002, No. 30, Vol. LXX

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