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Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has held a council on the construction of two churches at the foot of Tarasova (Chernecha) Hill in Kaniv, Cherkasy region.

The participants in the meeting included Vice Premier Ivan Vasiunyk, Culture and Tourism Minister Vasyl Vovkun, Regional Development and Construction Minister Vasyl Kuibida, Presidential Secretariat Deputy Head Roman Bezsmertny, Cherkasy Regional Governor Oleksandr Cherevko, Director General of the Taras Shevchenko National Reserve Marian Pyliak, Director of the UkrNDIproektrestavratsiya Ukrainian State Research and Design Institute Anatoliy Antoniuk, and Chairman of the Prosvita National Society Pavlo Movchan.

The president stressed the importance of implementing these projects, particularly in the context of marking in 2014 the 200th anniversary of the birth of the famous Ukrainian writer Taras Shevchenko.

Yushchenko said that the construction of a wooden Church of the Annunciation would help extend the opportunities of the Taras Shevchenko National Reserve in popularizing the history of Ukrainian Cossacks and in developing patriotism.

Cherevko, in turn, said that the construction of the Church of the Annunciation would cost an estimated UAH 10.5 million, whereas the restoration of another nearby church, which is in the form of an entry gate, would cost an estimated UAH 8.5 million.