2005 Press Releases

U.S. Ambassador to Visit Wooden Church Under Restoration

Bratislava, November 4, 2005

U.S. Ambassador Rodolphe Vallee will visit the wooden Greek Catholic church of Saints Cosmos and Damian in Lukov-Venecia at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, November 9, to observe the restoration work there.

Representatives of the Greek Catholic Diocese of Presov will also be present to discuss the project.

All media are invited. The church is located in Lukov, 20km from Bardejov, direction Stara Lubovna.

The church recently received a grant for $30,000 (approximately SKK 970,000) from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation and the World Monuments Fund - Kress Foundation European Preservation Program, a non-governmental organization based in New York that is devoted to the rescue and preservation of imperiled works of art and architecture. WMF brings together public and private resources to carry out a comprehensive conservation program of fieldwork, advocacy, grant-making, education, and training. Every other year it issues the World Monuments Watch list of 100 Most Endangered Sites. The church in Lukov-Venecia, along with churches in Bodruzal and Topola, were placed on the 2004 Watch list.

The United States Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad, a U.S. government agency that assists with cultural preservation in countries of Central and Eastern Europe where many Americans have roots, has been working with the Greek Catholic Diocese of Presov for the past four years to support efforts to preserve Slovakia's great heritage of wooden churches.