Ambassador Feinstein in Podkarpackie – Day One

7 February 2012

U.S Ambassador to Poland Lee Feinstein (second from right), with Lancut Castle Museum Director Wit Wojtowicz (right) and Podkarpackie Marshal Miroslaw Karapyta (second from left) and U.S Consul General Allen Greenberg (left) at Lancut Castle

Ambassador Feinstein at the Sikorsky Aircraft Company in PZL Mielec

Yesterday U.S. Ambassador to Poland Lee A. Feinstein began a two day trip to Podkarpackie to meet with local political, religious and cultural leaders, as well as students and senior citizens. He opened his trip with a visit to PZL Mielec , an American-owned Sikorsky Aircraft Company that employs 2,100 people in Podkarpackie. He also had the opportunity to view the production line of the Black Hawk S-70i helicopter. He also visited Mielec’s Special Economic Zone, where he discussed the importance of U.S. investment in the economic zone and the potential for further economic cooperation.  After leaving Mielec, he travelled to Rzeszow, where he met Podkarpackie Marshal Miroslaw Karapyta and Janusz Olech, Director General of the Podkarpackie Governor’s Office.

Ambassador Feinstein then traveled to Lancut where he participated in the Lancut Cultural Center’s “American Days” activities, including opening the photographic exhibiton “American West.” Special guests at the exhibit were senior citizen students in the “Third Age University.” He then visited the Lancut Synagogue and toured the Lancut Castle Museum.

With Marshal Karapyta and Museum Director Wit Wojtowicz, Ambassador Feinstein hosted a reception at the Castle for Podkarpackie residents. During the reception, he made a special presentation of copies of two catalogs of books that belonged to the Castle’s owners and that are now in the Getty Research Institute in California.

Director Wojtowicz requested assistance in getting the catalogs scanned, and the U.S. Consulate in Krakow contacted the Getty Research Institute, where thanks to the quick efforts of the Getty staff they were scanned in a matter of weeks. On display during the reception were some of the books mentioned in the catalogs and the digital versions of the catalogs were displayed on a monitor at the reception. The printed copies of the scans were available for guests to see during the reception.

Today, Ambassador Feinstein will continue his travels, meetingt the head of the 'Aviation Valley' group, speaking with students at the Higher School for Law and Administration, touring the Rzeszow Underground Museum, meeting with librarians participating in the Library Development Program, meeting Rzeszow Bishop Kazimierz Gorny, and visiting two U.S. companies - Goodrich Aerospace and WSK/Pratt & Whitney.