The sculpting tradition of the Papizh family has its beginning in the second half of the XIXth century in Pidhaytsi city, Ternopil region in Western Ukraine.

The first of the Papizhs who made their first monument was Gabriel Papizh in 1872 and it was a traditional, so called a canonic cross made of soft white stone. His five sons have followed his father and became sculptors as well. In their works they brought in new elements and thus made their works much richer.

The grandson of Gabriel, Ilia inherited his family talent and perfected the style of sculpting. The figures of saints on the stone monuments he made looked no less symbolic and yet a lot more realistic. He managed to restore a lot of historic monuments in Ternopil region as well as made the new ones for families from all over Ukraine.

His son and my father Andriy Papizh has united the family sculpting style with his art studies at the Art Academy. Today, the one can find works of sculptor Andriy Papizh not only in Ukraine but also in the South of Italy and Canada. Marble figures of Saints in the area of Naples, a complex bronze monument at one of the cenral cemeteries in Toronto, countless monuments and memorieals made

His sculptures are a combination of classical and modern, realism and symbolism. His yonger son and my brother Nazariy Papizh studied sculpting at Lviv Art College and is seen to be my father's and our family sculpting tradition successor. Today, we do a lot of cemetery memorials and monuments deducated to particular historic events or personas, and also we do many decorative mantels for private houses as well as restore the old ones