15 December 2012 Charity. Education

Dmitry and Lada Firtash Donate 8 Million UAH To Refurbish Chernivtsi National University

Dmitry and Lada Firtash being co-founders of the Firtash Foundation charity have met with the faculty and researchers of Chernivtsi Yu. Fedkovych National University. At this meeting, the benefactors handed over to the University President a check with the value of 8 million UAH which will be used for carrying out refurbishment works at the University buildings.

Meeting with the University faculty and students Mr. Firtash pointed out that it was of utmost importance for him to support his native city of Chernivtsi and one of Bukovyna’s major cultural, historic and scientific hallmarks – Chernivtsi National University. “We are clearly aware of the challenges the University is facing and we will endeavor to help in meeting them. Chernivtsi is my native city and the way it evolves therefore matters to me,” said Dmitry Firtash, Head of the Board of Directors of Group DF and co-founder of the Firtash Foundation.

Mr. Firtash further explained that crafting future charity projects to be implemented in Bukovyna will rely on the positive experience of assistance to important cultural and social centers in municipalities hosting Group DF’s companies or being home of large-scale charity humanitarian programs implementation. Such municipalities include among others Cherkassy, Sumy, Kherson, Gorlovka (Donetsk region), Severodonetsk (Lugansk region), Armiansk and Krasnoperekopsk (both in the Crimea), as well as the entrepreneur’s native village of Synkiv in Ternopil region.

Mr. Firtash pledged that as the President of the Federation of Employers of Ukraine he will be advocating more active participation of the government in preserving the cultural heritage of Bukovyna and other regions of Ukraine. “We will propose the Prime Minister of Ukraine to consider, at the stage of drafting the national budget, the necessity of allotting the state funding to sustain the World Heritage objects based in Ukraine. We want to cooperate with the government in drawing up a financial plan of restoration and development of these historic and cultural sites,” stressed Mr. Firtash.

Speaking before the University research staff Mrs. Lada Firtash highlighted the importance of support to this architecture monument: “A few years ago I arrived in Chernivtsi for the first time and was immensely impressed by the remarkable beauty of its University. And we do believe that it is tremendously important to assist in preserving this unique site of the cultural legacy for future generations of Ukrainians.

NOTE

The Firtash Foundation is a private charity founded by Dmitry and Lada Firtash and pursuing a major objective of providing long-term and systemic support to education and culture in Ukraine, and to promoting the creative and intellectual potential of Ukraine’s youth.
The architectural ensemble of the former residences of the Orthodox Bukovyna and Dalmatia Metropolitans was built on the site of the old bishop's house in 1864-1882. This year the complex was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. This architectural monument is one of the most important sites of Bukovyna and Ukraine in general. The assistance donated by Mr. Firtash will be channeled to the reconstruction of this historic building.
 
The Metropolitan Residence’s architectural ensemble was designed and constructed by Josef Hlavka, a famous Czech architect, scientist, and a patron of arts. He designed the unconventional for that time complex of buildings of eclectic style with a predominance of Byzantine and Romanesque styles elements. This project repeatedly won prizes in competitions of known architects and was particularly marked at the World Exhibition in Paris (1900). Despite the impressive complexity of ensemble’s composition it features the remarkably accurate planning consisting of three monumental buildings: the main one, the seminary with the Church of the Three Hierarchs, and presbytery.

The main building (now the central building V housing the University administration and the foreign languages department) was the abode of the Metropolitan with spacious apartments, luxurious rooms for audiences and diocesan meetings. In the corner of the building’s left wing there is a Hierarch Home Church – Ivan Suchavskiy’s chapel which in fact gave a start to the entire residence construction.
 
Numerous halls of the central building amaze with flamboyance typical of the supreme religious ranks. Some of them have retained their original appearance no inferior to the best ceremonial halls of Europe.

Chernivtsi Yu. Fedkovych National University was founded on October 4, 1875 by the decree of the Emperor of Austria-Hungary Franz Joseph on the basis of the theological institute which had existed since 1827. Being Franz Joseph University until 1918, in 1940 the establishment received a status of Chernivtsi State University. In 1989 Chernivtsi National University was named after Yuriy Fedkovych, a well-known writer of Bukovyna.

By the President's Decree, the National University title was awarded to Chernivtsi State University on September 11, 2000.