A unique clock with three dials on the tower of the Church of Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary – Archdiocesan Cathedral of the UGCC is planned to be renovated by Easter.
Ternopil residents came up with the idea and Polish clockmakers are already working on its implementation. The clock will be manufactured by Druch Bells & Clocks company, which is the general contractor of the automatic bell Saint John Paul II at the Royal Cathedral on Wawel in Krakow.
"The fact that our city, Ternopil, suffered a severe destruction during World War II. Lots of things were destroyed. And we are thinking of returning a part of it. For example, our city has a traditional town hall clock, which would set a rhythm or pulse to its inhabitants, that kind of atmosphere and aura that is created in the old European cities by bells ringing in the towers,” said the chief editor of “To Every Home” magazine, social activist Vadym Peretz to RISU reporter Volodymyr Moroz.
In many cities these clocks are still chiming on the town halls, churches. In Ternopil the town hall was destroyed, while the towers of the archdiocesan cathedral, a former Dominican church, survived. And they also had an ancient chiming clock.
“First, we undertook a mechanism that every quarter of an hour plays the sound of bells in the tower of Archdiocesan Cathedral. Our citizens could appreciate its charming chime. Turning the idea with the clock into life had to be postponed due to events in Ukraine. We have directed considerable resources to help the army,the resident of Ternopil continues. - And Easter is the bright celebration of victory of good over evil, therefore we finally decided to restore the city chiming clock right away.
The proponents received the blessing to implement the plan from the Metropolitan Vasyl (Semeniuk). Also, all the details were agreed on with the architects. New watches have three dials 160 cm in diameter each. The only thing that old dial was black and white will be present, with night lighting,” continues Vadym Perets.
We know from historical documents that the clock tower at the southern church had already existed in the nineteenth century. It is unknown when exactly it was built. At the beginning of the twentieth century, it had to be very old, people complained it was going wrong.
“The tower clock (of the Dominican church) recently plays prank and shows a different time every day,” according to Glos polski newspaper as of April 15, 1905.
According to saved records of Dominican Fathers, the church was destroyed and burned on September 17-19, 1939.
“On September 19 (1939), Soviet soldiers mounted guns in the morning in front of our church and began to fire regularly at the facade, and then at the tower on the pretext that the Polish officers shot from there... The wooden tower was caught with flame, and after them the dome of the church,” reported Dominican Fabiyan Madura, who was forced to emigrate to Poland in Soviet times.
After World War II, when the church building was renovated, the clock was not repaired. Now the time has come. However, the activists say nothing about the cost of mechanism and works.
“In general, we want to start a movement in Ternopil to protect historical heritage,” says Vadym Perets.