Attractions of Volodymyr district

The first fortifications of the city of Ladomyr between the Luha River and its two tributaries arose in early Slavic times.

The earthen ramparts of a quadrangular shape preserved in the center of modern Volodymyr belong to the heyday of urban construction after the accession of the city to Kyivan Rus by Prince Volodymyr the Great.

There were wooden city walls with towers and several gates on the ramparts, a moat with water ran around the ramparts, and there were several stone temples and palaces on the territory.

From the 19th to the middle of the 20th century, the government of tsarist, then Soviet Russia used the fortress as a prison for political prisoners, then as a tuberculosis hospital. A two-story prison building has been preserved, which is being restored to house a museum exhibit.

A memorial sign was installed in honor of those who died for the freedom of Ukraine.

The parish church of Saints Joachim and Anna was built in Volodymyr in austere forms of late baroque on the site of a wooden church founded in 1554 with the support of Princess Anna Zbarazka.

Three-naft basilica with two towers on the main facade.

Under the church there are cellars covered with cylindrical vaults.

The ancient white-stone Holy Assumption Cathedral rises majestically above the city of Volodymyr, a little away from the center, behind the ramparts of the city center.

Founded in the 12th century by Mstyslav Izyaslavych, the future Grand Duke of Kyiv. "Mstyslav's Church" was the residence of the Volyn bishops and the ancestral tomb of the Mstyslavych princes. Roman Mstyslavich, the founder of the Galicia-Volyn principality, is buried here.

The temple was repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt, the last reconstruction in 1900 gave it ancient Rus forms.

Nearby is the bell tower built in the 15th century, as well as the bishop's house.

Monuments to ancient Rus princes have been erected on the territory.

The Assumption Nyzkynychi Monastery was founded in 1643 by the famous statesman of the 17th century, the Ukrainian nobleman Adam Kysil, the last Orthodox senator of the Commonwealth of Nations, who later became the Kyiv voivode.

To create the monastery, Kysil allocated his own ancestral castle in Nyzkynychi with defensive ramparts. For ten years, he allocated significant funds to complete the construction.

The five-domed Assumption Church in the Renaissance style is an outstanding example of Ukrainian architecture of the 17th century. It is surrounded by a low stone fence, which includes a wooden two-story bell tower, which is the main entrance. Many representatives of the Kysil family are buried in the church, including the founder himself, who until the end of his life remained the main champion of Orthodoxy in the western Ukrainian lands. His grave is in the basement, the restored sarcophagus is decorated with battle bas-reliefs by Italian masters. The church also has a marble bust of Adam Kysil , his portrait and family coat of arms.

The monastery has experienced several re-subordinations, the church was closed in the middle of the 20th century, and suffered greatly during half a century of neglect.

Currently, the monastery has been revived, the church has been restored.

The Church of the Holy Trinity and Saint Mary Magdalene in Zaturtsi was built in 1642-1646 at the expense of Valerian Pidhorodinskyi.

The Augustinian monastery operated near the church.

In 1832, the Russian tsarist authorities closed the monastery, and the church was handed over to the Orthodox Church. In 1933, the temple was restored after the First World War, but in 1946 it was closed again by the Soviet authorities.

In 1994, restoration was carried out, the church was consecrated again.

The Ihor Stravinsky Museum in Ustyluh was opened in the house that the composer built according to his own project in 1907.

Ustyluh became the birthplace of three generations of the Stravinsky creative family. Composer Ihor Stravinsky lived in Ustiluz from 1892 to 1914, he married his cousin Kateryna Nosenko here, he called this city a "paradise for creativity". It was here that he created the ballets "The Hot Bird" (1910), "Petrushka" (1912), "Sacred Spring" (1913), which reflected the musical folklore of Volyn.

Most of the premises of Stravinsky's house, built according to his own design, are now occupied by a children's music school with a concert hall.

The museum is located on the first floor in the left wing. In four halls, materials are presented that tell about the life and creative path of the brilliant composer, his stay in Ustyluh, and his last visit to the Soviet Union. In particular, you can see the grand piano on which Stravinsky played.

Saint Basil's Rotunda Church is a unique example of Orthodox architecture. The name of the architect Oleksa, who built the temple, is mentioned in the Galician-Volyn Chronicle.

Elements of Gothic architecture can be traced in the structural and technical solution, in particular the eight-petal ceiling.

In 1901, a Russian-style bathhouse was built on top, which changed the look of the church beyond recognition.

The memorial museum of Vyacheslav Lypynsky in Zaturtsi was opened in 2011 in the restored manor house of the ancestral estate of the Lypynsky noble family.

The house was built in 1871, and a park was built around it. In 1882, Vyacheslav Lypynsky, an outstanding Ukrainian historian and public figure, was born here. He spent his childhood and youth here.

A unique collection of personal belongings and documents of Vyacheslav Lypynsky and his family was collected thanks to his relatives living abroad.

First editions of the historian's works, various documents (matriculation certificate, track record, diploma of hetman Pavlo Skoropadsky), portraits of family members are presented. Fragments of the interiors of the building have been reproduced: "Serhiy Lypynsky's Cabinet", "Living Room", "Vyacheslav Lypynsky's Cabinet".

Zymne Assumption Monastery at the Holy Mountain is one of the oldest Orthodox monasteries in Ukraine.

According to legend, the Zymne Monastery was founded in 1073 by the Kyiv-Pechersk monk Varlaam at the winter residence of the Volodymyr princes, founded in 1001 by Prince Volodymyr the Great on Holy Mountain near the city of Volodymyr. The cave church of Varlaam Pecherskyi and "Terem Volodymyr" have been preserved.

The complex is dominated by the majestic Trinity Church (1465-1475), as well as the Assumption Church (1495-1550).

The monastery is surrounded by defensive walls with corner towers under tented roofs, built in the XV-XVI centuries by the patrons of the monastery, the Chartoriysky princes. The 720-kilogram Chartoriysky bell is kept on the territory.

The remains of many Volodymyr bishops, for whom Zymne served as a country residence, rest in underground crypts.

The main shrine of the Monastery at the Holy Mountain is the miraculous Zymne icon of the Mother of God, which, according to legend, was presented to the monastery by Prince Volodymyr the Great. A monument to Saint Volodymyr the Baptist was installed in the yard.

The monastery has a pilgrimage complex with a hotel, a bakery and prosphora, a gold sewing workshop, and an icon bench. Nuns conduct tours.

The Cathedral of the Nativity of Christ is located in the center of Volodymyr.

It was built as a Jesuit church of the Sending of the Apostles within the boundaries of the surrounding town in 1755 by the Slonim elder Hnat Sadovskyi. The construction of the church in the late Baroque style lasted 15 years. In 1762, the Jesuit church acquired the status of the "Heart of Jesus" monastery. After the abolition of the Jesuit Order, the church was transferred to the Basilian Order, and in 1840 the monastery became Orthodox and was the residence of bishops. In 1921, it again came under the control of the Roman Catholic diocese.

Injured during the Second World War. Currently restored, it is the Orthodox Cathedral of the Nativity of Christ of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

The Volodymyr Museum of History is housed in a building built in 1912 in the ancient square of the Capuchin monastery.

This is one of the oldest collections of antiquities in the Volyn region, dating back to 1887, when the Volodymyr public organized the Antiquities Store in the city for the purpose of preserving and studying ancient monuments.

Currently, the museum's funds include 18,000 items. A significant archaeological collection, products of Volodymyr craftsmen, tools and household items of peasants from different historical periods, a large ethnographic collection, including samples of Volyn embroidery and clothing, are presented.

The unique collection of coins of the VI-XIX centuries includes, in particular, a silver coin of Prince Volodymyr the Great. A collection of old prints, works of art of Volyn masters of different eras is also exhibited.

The monastery and church of the Carmelites in Kysylyn were built at the beginning of the 18th century on the basis of the complex of buildings of the Kysylyn Academy, founded at the beginning of the 17th century by Protestant Socinians (Arians).

After the prohibition of Socinianism in the Rech Pospolyta, the academy was handed over to the order of Carmelite nuns, the educational buildings were turned into monastery cells. In 1720, the Church of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary was built. The two-story building of the monastery is combined with the building of the church. In the interior, wonderful arches with carvings, as well as frescoes on biblical themes, have been preserved.

After the end of the Second World War, in 1945, a flax processing factory was placed on the territory of the church. Only the outer wall of the two-story building survived in the monastery building. All interior decoration was completely replaced during the construction of the factory.

Today, the Carmelite monastery and church are in a state of disrepair, and the church is in ruins.

The Dominican monastery was founded in Volodymyr in 1497 by the great Lithuanian prince Oleksandr Yahellonchyk, who later became the Polish king.

Some researchers attribute the construction of the belfry, which now stands at the corner of Danyla Halytskoho and Soborna Streets, to this period.

The current defensive monastery complex with the Trinity Church was built in 1789. During a great fire in the 19th century, the church burned down, other buildings of the monastery, completely devoid of decoration, were adapted for the city's needs - it housed the city court, then the treasury, and the Polish eldership. Currently, it is one of the buildings of the Volodymyr Vocational College.

The Holocaust Victims Memorial in Kysylyn was opened in 2015 as part of the program of memorializing the places of mass burials of Jews during the Second World War "Protect the Memory".

The memorial was created on the northwestern outskirts of the village, where in 1942, during the occupation, the Nazis executed more than 500 Jews from the local ghetto. Only one managed to survive.

After the war, the mass grave was forgotten, its territory was used for agriculture. After determining the location of the mass burial by means of non-invasive methods of soil research, a memorial site was set up here.

The Ivanychi People's Historical Museum was founded in 1975 by local historian Vasyl Usyk. From 2021, the exhibition is housed in the spacious halls of the Center for Culture, Leisure and Sports of the Ivanychi Settlement Council.

In the museum, you can familiarize yourself with the history of the Ivanychi region from ancient times to the present day. The oldest finds date back to the Paleolithic era: a mammoth tusk, stone tools, etc. Materials from the period of Kyivan Rus: steel knife and shovel, stone graters, brick plinth. Many exhibits highlight the events of the 18th and 19th centuries: old maps, documents, and household items.

Other expositions tell about the period of the First World War, the state revival of Ukraine in 1917-1920, the Polish occupation, the Second World War, the activities of the UPA, the Soviet occupation, the Maidan and the events of the Russian-Ukrainian war. 

The materials that tell about the first founders of the settlement – the Ivanytsky family, as well as the life and activities of the Kyiv voivode, Polish senator Adam Kysil, deserve special attention.