13.06.2007, [09:08] // Conflict // RISU.ORG.UA
Uzhhorod – Professional archeologists are protesting the amateur digs of monastery remains dating back to the 15th century in the village of Hrushevo, Tiachivskyi District, in southwestern Ukraine’s Transcarpathia Region, initiated by the monks of St. Michael’s Monastery.ua-reporter.com posted the news on 12 June 2007.
On 9 June 2007 during a field session of the Uzhhorod Press Club, Oleksandr Bandrovskyi, director of the Transcarpathia Department of the Archeological Institute of Ukraine, warned that unauthorized digs violate applicable Ukrainian law on the preservation of archeological heritage and call for a punishment of from three to eight years of imprisonment. Bandrovskyi stressed the existing rules for archeological digs. For instance, under the influence of solar rays, found human bones may lose characteristics necessary to identify the approximate time of burial.
The monks of St. Michael’s Monastery conducting the archeological digs justify their actions by a document issued by the regional department of culture, which says that the territory of the monastery has no historical value and may be built upon.
The monks found the remains of a monastery demolished in the 15th century almost a month ago in a meadow near the new monastery building. In the course of the archeological dig, house items as well as the parts of human skeletons, even a skeleton shot with an arrow, were found. They started a dig of the old church, hoping to uncover monastic mysteries of the past and reveal history for their contemporaries, even to turn it into a tourist spot.
Bandrovskyi said that representatives of the Rusyn movement are trying to use the monastery remains for political purposes, considering them a proof of the Rusyns’ Celtic origin, which would make them different from Ukrainians. The Rusyns live in the Transcarpathia Region and also parts of Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia, Croatia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina
RISU’s note: The monastery archeological digs began in 1997 when experts from Uzhhorod and Baia Mare, Romania, found the foundations and monastery basement.
Source and previous related RISU news:
• http://www.risu.org.ua/eng/news/article;13256/