Work has begun on creating inclusive pedestrian paths on the grounds of the Yevhen Konovalets museum-estate in Zashkiv. This is the first phase of a large-scale project to improve the site, aimed at making visits more convenient for people with disabilities, veterans and parents with pushchairs. The works are funded from off-budget sources, according to Lviv Deputy Mayor for Urban Planning, Liubomyr Zubach.
He said that construction of the accessible paths is currently under way from the barn at the far end of the estate to the museum’s main building. This is the section with the greatest change in elevation, so a substantial amount of earthworks was carried out first, and the preparatory phase was completed last week. Contractors are now laying the surface, so that in the end visitors will have flat and safe routes to move around the site.
“The inclusive paths are being laid from the rear of the property — from the barn to the museum building. This is the section with the greatest difference in height, so it was here that we had to do the lion’s share of the earthworks. The end result should be level paths, so that both our veterans and mothers with prams feel comfortable coming here” — Liubomyr Zubach
Lviv City Council notes that all works on the estate are being carried out under the supervision of the Office for Agglomeration and Community Development. Once the first phase is completed, plans for the museum courtyard include the installation of an information centre, the construction of an inclusive toilet and the opening of a terrace next to the barn.
Near the museum, on the wall of a building, there is a large image with a portrait of Yevhen Konovalets in military uniform and his quote: “We shall not use words to explain the essence of the immortal idea”.
The museum in Zashkiv is under regional authority and is one of the departments of the Lviv Historical Museum. Previously, the institution’s management had approached Lviv City Council with a request to help install an inclusive toilet and improve the grounds, which became the basis for the current works to begin.
Yevhen Konovalets was the founder and first leader of the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists, a colonel of the Ukrainian People’s Republic Army, commander of the Sich Riflemen, and a Ukrainian political, state and military figure, one of the founders of Ukrainian nationalism. He was born on 14 June 1891 in Zashkiv in the Lviv region, and on 23 May 1938 he was killed in Rotterdam (Netherlands), where he was also buried.
On 13 August this year, the remains of Yevhen Konovalets were brought back to Ukraine, and on 18 August they were ceremonially reinterred at the National Military Memorial Cemetery in the Kyiv region. The tombstone from his grave in Rotterdam was transferred to the museum-estate in Zashkiv, where the grounds are currently being refurbished.