Combining traditions of restoration, education and practice (Portrait of the Restoration and Reconstruction of Architectural Complexes Department, Institute of Architecture, Lviv Polytechnic National University) Training of architects and restorers — is a relatively young area in the field of architectural education. The profession of an architect, who specializes in the architectural monuments restoration, was originated in Europe at the beginning of the 19th century, after a sensational archaeological excavations of such ancient cities as Pompeii, Herculaneum and ancient forums in the downtown of Rome. The work of architects Rafael Stern and Giuseppe Valadye over the arch of Titus on the Forum Romanum, conducted after thorough research from 1821 to 1823, is considered to be one of the first professional restorations of the architectural object. Nowadays not all European countries provide training of architects and restorers in their systems of higher education. Such tradition exists in the Universities of Italy, England, France and Poland. In other countries such education can be acquired mainly after the long postgraduate studies. It is nice to point out, that the young Restoration and Reconstruction of Architectural Complexes Department at the Lviv Polytechnic National University, founded in 1992 as the first educational institution of such kind in Ukraine, already has its own established traditions, high-level teaching and learning support and considerable research potential of the employees. The Department research, learning and project works are known both within the circle of the domestic experts and abroad. There is no doubt that it would be impossible to succeed without reliance on the monument preserving traditions formed in Lviv from the 19th to the beginning of the 20th century. These traditions were further continued in the work of the Ukrzakhidproektrestavratsiya Institute in the second half of the 20th century. A. Petrushevych, Yu. Zahariyevych, E. Kovach, I. Levynskyj, M. Osinskyj, L. Dajchak, Ya. Vytvytskyj, I. Mohytych, A. Rudnytskyj and other scientists and practicians stood at the source of restoration activities and education in Lviv.
The Restoration Department was founded as the part of the Faculty of Architecture to train specialists in the area of restoration and reconstruction of architectural buildings, using the new directions of cultural heritage protection in Ukraine. At that time it was the first and only research and teaching institution in Ukraine, specializing in architectural and restorational education. The tradition of the restorational activity has deep roots in Lviv. Semi-governmental official body was created in 1856 as a subsidiary of Vienna “Central Commission for the research and conservation of monumental buildings”, which kept the monuments in Galicia under observation. Lviv Polytechnic University is known for the names of famous architects of different nationalities, who dedicated a considerable part of their careers to the study of historical buildings and restoration of the monuments. These architects are: Julian Zakhariyevych, Edgar Kovach, Ivan Lewynskyj, Vasyl Nagirnyj, Thadej Obminskyj, Marian Osinskyj, Igor Starosolskyj and many others.
The main focus of the Department work are teaching and research activities related to the theory and practice of monuments and works of art restoration, valorization and regeneration of urban construction ensembles and complexes, history of architecture and urban construction development in the western region of Ukraine. The Department is the leading educational and research institution of this kind in Ukraine. It runs a research laboratory (RL-104 for regeneration of reserved architectural complexes of Ukrainian historic cities). Also, scientific school which studies regeneration problems of historic urban construction complexes was opened in the Department. The school is headed by the Sc. D., Prof. M. Bevz. In 2007 the Department initiated training of specialists and various scientific research into the restoration of works of art made of natural and artificial stone. The Department conducts its research and teaching activity in collaboration with its foreign partners in the field of restoration from Poland, Austria, Germany, the USA and other countries. The Department annually holds international student conference concerned with the problem of monument restoration and also various problematic academic conferences and seminars on improving the theory and practice of the architectural and artistic monuments restoration. The Department has already organized such international conferences as “The city of Lviv: conservation and development” ( May 22, 2008), the Ukrainian-Swedish research seminar " Research methods, conservation and regeneration of the historical cities" (November 20-21, 2006), exhibition and roundtable “Architectura Militaris” (Problems of research, conservation and restoration of the defensive architecture monuments in Ukraine, May-June 2004) and others. The Department faculty not only supervise students’ scientific researches and projects, but also conduct some of their own. One of the examples is a scientific research, which took the Department several years to carry out, called “The project of museum-memorial complex in honor of Patriarch Josyf Slipyj in village Zazdrist, Ternopil region.” For this work the Department was awarded first degree diploma of The State Committee for Construction, Architecture and Housing Policy of Ukraine in 2000. The Department has also studied different project offers which concerned one of the greatest monuments of the 12th-13th centuries in Western Ukraine. The name of the project was: conservation of the foundations of the Assumption Cathedral in village Krylos near Halych. The research of the historic city Zhovkva that the Department has been carrying out for several years was embodied during the development of the urban construction documentation: historical and architectural supporting plan of the city, “The master plan for the development of the reserve”, “Project for the regeneration of the historical part of Zhovkva”. On the grounds of the research and project documentation, provided by the specialists of the Department, the new historical and cultural reserves were opened in Belz, Lviv region (in 2000) and in Berezhany, Ternopil region (in 2001). The similar documentation was prepared for two more towns: Buchach and Pidhajci in Ternopil region.
One of the most important works of the Department was launching and organizing the events involving the inclusion of Lviv historical center on the UNESCO World Heritage List (completed in 1998). Today, the Department conducts the research to include on the List some of the wooden churches in the Carpathian region of Ukraine.
In addition to the basic teaching activities involving students the Department performs the following work:
- Scientific research of the architectural heritage, especially in Western Ukraine and writing scientific papers on these issues;
- Holding academic conferences and meetings on the different issues of research and protection of architectural heritage;
- Establishing broad international and state research relations for the development of the conservation of cultural heritage and its restoration;
- Implementation of the projects for Research Restoration of architectural sites and urban construction documentation on protection of monuments, including historical and architectural supporting plans, projects of security zones, determining the historical areas of the city and others;
- Work in the field of training for the restoration and protection of monuments.
In November 2006, the Department with the support of the Fulbright foundation and the United States Embassy held a major international conference called: “Problems of training the specialists in monuments conservation and restoration of immovable cultural heritage in Ukraine”, which discussed current issues on the development of the education of restoration, teaching restorative disciplines, outlining ways to improve international cooperation in the field of restoration and protection of monuments and also accented the need for renewal on the state list such profession as an “architect-restorer.” In 1997, a research laboratory was formed under the Restoration and Reconstruction of Architectural Complexes Department in order to conduct the scientific research and practical developments in the field of architectural monuments restoration and regeneration of historical cities by state budget or economic contracts. The results of theoretical research carried out by the Department’s specialists, including thesis findings are implemented in practice into activity of the laboratory. Senior students are involved in practical work and in the study of the research and project documentation. Each year, a series of scientific and research developments and practical works are commissioned by the regional city councils, management of historical and cultural heritages and private investors. In recent years the RL-104 performed research and design works for a total of about 2.0 million hryvnyas. Research and project documentation was developed for historical and cultural reserves in Zhovkva and for the reserve “Ancient Halych” in Halych, the reserve “Prince Belz” in Belz, for City Council of Buchach, Ivano-Frankivsk, Drohobych, Uhneva, Dubno, Zhydachiv, Pidhaitsi, Berezhany etc. The list of historical cities that the scientific research cover is constantly expanding. The achievements of the SRL-104 were demonstrated at a specially-arranged exhibition “Historic city: Past vs Future”, which was included in the program of the Science Festival, organized by the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, the Council of Chancellors of Lviv region universities and the Shevchenko Scientific Society.
Major areas of scientific research:
- Regeneration of monumental urban construction complexes, historical sites and historical cities (carrying out the studies of historical and architectural reserves, historical and urban construction studies, scientific and project documentation of inventory and certification of important buildings, historical and architectural supporting plans, that define the boundaries of historical areas of cities, development of security zones, development of master plans for nature reserves, etc.);
- Restoration and conservation of architectural and archaeological monuments and various works of art;
- Scientific research into the history of architecture and into the history of settlement in the western region of Ukraine; Scientific research of the various monuments.
The main Department partners: Directorate of the State Historical-Architectural Reserve in Zhovkva and the Board of Directors of State Historical-Architectural Reserve in Belz of Lviv region; Directorate of the National Historical and Cultural Reserve “Ancient Halych”; State Scientific and Technological Centre for Preservation and Restoration of Monuments SSTC “Konrest”; Architecture bases Department at Odessa State Academy of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Department of Reconstruction and Restoration of Architectural Sites at Kharkiv State Technical University of Civil Engineering and Architecture; Fulbright Program in Ukraine; Faculty of Art Work Restoration at the University of Restoration and Architecture in Hildesheim (Germany); Faculty of Art Work Restoration at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna (Austria); the Department of monument reconstruction and conservation at Lublin University of Technology (Poland); the History Department at Morehead University of Kentucky (USA) and others.
Diploma papers of the graduates annually receive awards and honors of the all-Ukrainian Architects’ Graduation Projects Competition and International Restorational Graduation Projects Competition by Ya. Zakhvatovych in Warsaw (Poland).