White Elephant Observatory, Mount Pip Ivan
A restored observatory of 1938 on a 2028 m summit: an international research centre and a rescue post.
The astronomical and meteorological observatory on the summit of Pip Ivan (2028 m) was built from the summer of 1936 to July 1938 to a design by Kazimierz Marczewski and Jan Pohoski. The three-storey building has 43 rooms, walls 1.5 m thick and a copper dome 10 m in diameter above a 33-centimetre astrograph. The observatory operated only from 1938 to 1941, and then stood empty for decades. Its revival as a Ukrainian-Polish project began in 2012, and on 27 August 2026 an International Centre for the Shared Use of Scientific Equipment was opened here. The building houses the highest mountain rescue station in Ukraine.
Ascent only on foot from the village of Dzembronia (bus from Verkhovyna) via Vukhatyi Kamin or Smotrych — high mountains at 2028 m, the weather changes fast. There are no tourist services in the building; it houses the research centre and the rescuers (PNU website).