Verkhnie Syniovydne. Church of the Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary
The urban-type settlement of the Verkhnie Syniovydne lies at the foot of Skole Beskydy. Not far from the town is Parashka mountain, iconic to the Lviv region.
The Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary was built in 1939-1943 according to the project of Yevhen Nagirnyi. The earlier church burned down in 1933. It only has one level, which is typical for Boyko-style church. Nearby there is an ancient bell tower and a cemetery.
Petro Yatsyk (1921-2001) is one of the largest Ukrainian Patrons and philanthropists, businessman, civic activist was born in this village. After emigrating to Canada in 1949, he established a successful building and development firm. He was a founding member of the Patronat NTSh and a supporter of the Entsyklopediia Ukrainoznavstva (the Encyclopedia of Ukrainian Studies) project in Sarcelles, France. From the 1960 he assisted the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute by donating money, raising funds. Petro Yatsyk Educational Foundation (its fund has $ 4 million) was established in 1986 in Toronto. He financed the Peter Yatsyk Collection of Ukrainian Serials at the University of Toronto library.
In 1989 the Petro Yatsyk Centre of Ukrainian Historical Research was established at the University of Alberta with one-million-dollar donation by Yatsyk and a double matching grant from the government of Alberta. Through the Petro Yatsyk Educational Foundation he was supported other initiatives in Ukrainian Scholarship and education, including the endowment of the Petro Yatsyk Lectureship in Ukrainian Studies at the University of London (1991).
The amount of his donations to Ukrainian institutions in the Western world exceeds $16 million dollars.
In 2000 Pero Yatsyk initiated and fully financed the International Ukrainian Language Contest in Ukraine, which received official status from the Ukrainian Parliament. The Petro Yatsyk Education Foundation was the major funder for the next six years. The Language Contest continues today.