Seven Cultures Improve City Finances

The Seven Cultures international festival was held the weekend before last. Seven miniature towns were erected on Armenian Square for the ceremony of unveiling the Seven Cultures Memorial designed by prominent sculptor Anatoly Ihnashchenko. There were songs and dances, and people spoke seven languages, The Day was told by Serhiy Babiy, Secretary of the Kamyanets-Podilsky City Council.

Delegations from Russia, Poland, Turkey, Israel, Armenia, and Lithuania took part in the festivities. “Their ancestors headed for our city by the River Smotrych at different times and with different intentions, and eventually settled here, building families, creating Kamyanets-Podilsky’s inimitable atmosphere,” Mr. Babiy continued.

The joint festival project of Ukraine’s Ministry of Culture, Khmelnytsky Oblast State Administration, and Kamyanets-Podilsky City Executive Committee was patented with just one phrase: “Nothing like this has ever happened anywhere in the world.” The secretary of the Kamyanets-Podilsky City Council agreed that the organizers sincerely intended not only to recall the history of our native land, put on a good show, and bring people closer together against the background of the American tragedy, but also and above all to make our Kamyanets-Podilsky, so rich in historical, cultural, and architectural sites, a tourist venue of world importance.” Of course, the socioeconomic development of this territorial entity requires a higher standard of local self-government. This is one of the decisive steps taken by the local administration on the road toward the long-cherished dream. Incidentally, Mr. Babiy also noted that the rate of financial decline showed improvement in just two days.