On December 4, 2023, on the occasion of the 95th anniversary of the birth and the eighth anniversary of the death of the famous Ukrainian scientist, historian, first head of the Department of History of Ukraine Volodymyr Hrabovetsky (1928–2015), the All-Ukrainian Scientific Conference “The Fourth Hrabovetsky Historical Readings” was held in his native small homeland in the village of Pechenizhyn, Kolomyia district. Its organizers were the Department of History of Ukraine and Methods of Teaching History of the Faculty of History, Political Science and International Relations, the Department of Culture, Nationalities and Religions of the Ivano-Frankivsk Regional State Administration, the Ivano-Frankivsk Regional Organization of the National Union of Local Loreologists of Ukraine, the Ivano-Frankivsk Historical and Memorial Museum of Oleksa Dovbush, the Ivano-Frankivsk Regional Center for Tourism and Local Lore of Schoolchildren, the Department of Culture and Tourism of the Pechenizhyn Village Council, the V. Hrabovetskoy and Oleksa Dovbush Historical and Local Lore Museum of the village of Pechenizhyn. This year, more than 80 people participated in the conference: representatives of state authorities, scientists, lecturers, teachers, heads of clubs of general secondary and extracurricular education institutions, museum workers, students, etc. from different regions of Ukraine.
The All-Ukrainian Scientific Conference began with a plenary session. During its holding, welcoming speeches were delivered by the rector of the Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University, Doctor of Political Sciences, Professor Ihor Tsependa, Candidate of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor, Dean of the Faculty of History, Political Science and International Relations of the Precarpathian University Ihor Hurak, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor, Head of the Department of History of Ukraine and Methods of Teaching History Ihor Raykivskyi, heads of the Kolomyia District Military Administration and District Council Lyubomyr Hlushkov and Ivan Uhryn, head of the Pechenizhyn Settlement Territorial Community Ihor Dovirak, Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences, Head of the Ivano-Frankivsk Regional Organization of the National Union of Local History Scholars of Ukraine, Director of the Ivano-Frankivsk Regional State Center for Tourism and Local History of Schoolchildren Mykhailo Kosylo, and Candidate of Historical Sciences, son of Volodymyr Hrabovetskyi, Bohdan Hrabovetskyi.
During the conference, a documentary film about the life and work of Volodymyr Hrabovetsky “On the Altar of Ukrainian History” was screened, and an exhibition of the scientist’s works was presented. The All-Ukrainian Scientific Conference “Fourth Hrabovetsky Historical Readings” worked in three directions: Volodymyr Hrabovetsky as a scientist, teacher and public figure; regional studies and museum studies in Ukraine: history and current state; Historical local history and museum studies in the Carpathian region. The moderator of one of the conference sections was Bohdan Paska, a leading specialist at the Institute of History, Ethnology and Archaeology of the Carpathians.
The conference participants concluded that in order to further thoroughly study the historical heritage of Volodymyr Vasylyovych Hrabovetsky, it is necessary to publish the reports of the participants of the scientific conference “Fourth Hrabovetsky Historical Readings” in a separate publication in the form of a collective monograph; to appeal to local government authorities with a request to name a street after V. Hrabovetsky in his small homeland – the village of Pechenizhyn, as well as in the city of Ivano-Frankivsk, where the professor lived most of his life; to enrich the stock repositories of the Oleksa Dovbush Historical and Memorial Museum in Ivano-Frankivsk with new materials from the private collection of Volodymyr Hrabovetsky; to popularize the research of Volodymyr Hrabovetsky among the scientific community, local historians, patrons of the arts, and the public, and to encourage the publication/reprinting of his works; teachers and heads of circles in educational institutions – to modernize the methodology of historical and local history work in educational institutions, where “traditional” and innovative methods, forms, techniques, and means of studying the creative work of V. Hrabovetskyi should be organically combined.