Attractions of Lviv region

The Svirzh Castle from the "Golden Horseshoe of Lviv Region" is a picturesque medieval building in the Renaissance style, a unique monument of defensive architecture of the XV-XVII centuries.

It was originally built as a fortress, but after the reconstruction of the 17th century, it acquired the noble features of a magnate's residence. The first defensive structures on Mount Belz, surrounded by lakes and marshes, date back to 1484 (the ruins of the tower and grotto to the right of the entrance).

Svirzh Castle was first mentioned in documents in 1530, when it belonged to the Svirzhsky nobles. In the middle of the 17th century, it was rebuilt and significantly strengthened by Count Oleksandr Zetner, according to one version, inviting the famous fortification engineer Pavlo Hrodzytskyi from Lviv.

The castle with a defensive moat and a bridge is divided into two courtyards of different levels, surrounded by Renaissance towers and houses. Having become a comfortable residence, Svirzh Castle was able to withstand several Turkish sieges, but before that it was captured by the Cossack troops of Bohdan Khmelnytskyi.

He suffered greatly during the First and Second World Wars.

During Soviet times, the Svirzh Castle became the property of the Union of Architects as the House of Creativity, but the restoration was never completed. It is planned to transfer the castle to a private investor under concession conditions.

The monument to the outstanding Ukrainian poet and public figure Taras Shevchenko was opened in the center of Lviv only in 1992.

The construction issue was resolved for 5 years, the winner was not determined at two design contests, and as a result of a compromise, it was decided to use the "relatively better" project of sculptors Volodymyr and Andriy Sukhorsky and architects Yuriy Dyba and Yuriy Khromey.

The monument was made in Argentina. The ceremonial opening took place on the anniversary of the adoption of the declaration of independence of Ukraine. After 4 years, the second element of the monument was opened - the 12-meter bronze "Wave of National Renaissance".

The Lviv branch of the museum in the dark "Third After Midnight" opened in 2023.

Here you can visit the exhibition "Art by touch" with a tour in complete darkness and accompanied by a blind guide. Such an excursion will give an opportunity to explore in a new way 25 exhibits representing famous works of architecture, painting and cinematography, which most people are used to perceive only visually.

Excursions in the dark are held for groups of up to 3 people and last 45 minutes. After that, visitors are offered to spend time with interesting activities in the recreation room – learn to write Braille, play sensory games, etc.

For children under 10 years of age, a team quest is offered, which allows you to learn interesting facts about the senses and understand the peculiarities of perception of the world by blind people.

In addition to the institution in Lviv, there is also a Third After Midnight Museum in Kyiv.

The Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord in Hrimne has been known since 1471.

In its current form, the wooden Transfiguration Church was built in 1777.

The three-tier carved iconostasis has been preserved since the 19th century. The interiors are painted with oil.

The museum of the history of the Truskavets resort is located in the center of the city in the "Sariush" villa, which is an architectural monument of the beginning of the 20th century.

In 7 halls, historical documents are displayed, as well as everyday objects of the population of the Carpathian foothills, which give an idea of the history of the region from the earliest times to the present day.

The Tustan fortress city is an ancient Rus rock defense complex that served as a border fortress and a customs post (the name is interpreted as an order to the traveler: "Tu stan!" (Stand!). Also known as "Dovbush Rock".

The first fortifications on the Rock of Kamin in the area of the current village of Urych were built by the White Croats in the 9th century. Wooden structures were inserted directly into the rock massif (grooves and cuts in the rock were preserved, which were reconstructed).

The Tustan fortress was an important stronghold of Kyivan Rus, later the Principality of Galicia-Volyn. In 1241, it was destroyed by the hordes of Khan Batiy, and in 1340 it was captured and rebuilt by the Polish king Kazymyr the Great as a royal fortress. Through it, salt mined in Drohobych and its surroundings was exported to Transcarpathia and Hungary. The last owner in the 16th century was the Polish magnate Blitsynsky, after which the fortress lost its importance and disappeared from the annals.

Remains of a stone wall, caves, stairs, a well and two water cisterns have been preserved. In 1994, the State Historical and Cultural Reserve "Tustan" was created, the Tustan History Museum operates.

The Tustan History Museum is located in the center of Urych, near the turn to the Tustan rock fortress, next to the Nicolas Church and the Prosvita People's House.

The museum was created in 1997 to store and exhibit archaeological finds made on the territory of the ancient Rus settlement.

Paintings and diagrams by the artist and archaeologist Mykhaylo Rozhko, a model of the fortress city and the reconstruction of the governor's chambers are also presented. "Tustan - the fifth construction period" model, which reproduces all three rocks of Tustan (Stone, Sharp Stone and Small Rock), multi-story wooden structure of the fortress, walls and towers.

A separate layout shows how the entrance gate mechanism is arranged.

An elegant palace in the English style was built in Brody in 1909 by Countess Tyshkevych.

The Tyshkevych Palace is located in the suburb of Stari Brody, on the shore of a picturesque pond. A small two-story building with a colonnade is richly decorated with stucco. The interiors were not preserved.

Currently, the Brody State Forestry Farm is located here, which keeps the building and territory in order.

The museum of the UPA underground headquarters of General Roman Shukhevych was opened in 2007 in the village of Hrimne, where in 1947 the headquarters of the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army was located.

For several days, there was a conspiratorial apartment in the house of a local priest, where Shukhevych stayed with his closest entourage. Of them, only the liaison Dariya Husak, who initiated the creation of the museum, remained alive.

In the basement of the priest's house, a hideout of the rebels was discovered, covered with earth. Enthusiasts cleaned it and restored the interior.

Weapons of those times and personal belongings of the underground are presented. You can view the collection of documents, photographs and rebel posters printed here.

The UPA General Roman Shukhevych Museum in Lviv was created in 2001 with the assistance and financial support of the Association of UPA Soldiers in the USA named after General Taras Chuprynka.

It is located in an old building on the territory of the former village of Bilohorshcha (now district of Lviv), where in 1950 the last headquarters of the UPA commander-in-chief was located. It is a department of the Lviv Historical Museum.

The exposition on the first floor tells about the Shukhevych family, Roman Shukhevych's youth, his military and political activities and the armed struggle of the Ukrainian liberation movement. In particular, an autobiography written by Shukhevych's hand is presented, as well as objects related to his field activities.

The second floor of the museum reproduces the daily life of the UPA commander-in-chief in this underground apartment: stairs, living room, hiding place. It was here that on March 5, 1950, Roman Shukhevych's last battle with the MGB unit took place. In the room where Roman Shukhevych lived and worked, original furniture (a table, four chairs, an armchair) made in the mid-1930s in Western Europe, which was presented to the museum by the daughter of General Mariya Trylovska, is presented.

On January 1, 2024, the Roman Shukhevych Museum in Lviv was completely destroyed by a fire caused by a Russian air terrorist attack. The lost memorial items of Roman Shukhevych: a table, armchairs, an armchair, a piano, as well as a bust of Roman Shukhevych by Mykhaylo Chereshniovskyi and a sculpture of Stepan Bandera by Yaroslav Trotsko. The remaining approximately 600 pieces of exhibits from the beginning of the full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war were moved to another place.

The Stryi Museum of Local Lore "Verkhovyna" is located in the former house of the Stryi lawyer and public-politician Yevhen Olesnytsky (built in 1899), which at the beginning of the 20th century was a center of Ukrainian culture and public life.

The museum's funds include 26,000 storage units. The exhibition consists of three sections: nature, ethnography, and history of the region.

The most valuable exhibits: ancient books, icons, Boykiv and Hutsul Easter eggs, as well as Cossack and Opryshky weapons.

A separate exposition is devoted to the activities of the UPA.

Castles (Knyazha) Hill in the central part of Lviv (413 meters), on top of which the fortified residence of Prince Danylo Halytskyi was built in the 13th century. It is called the High Castle (Vysoky Zamok ) as opposed to the Lower Castle (Citadel).

Initially, the fortress was wooden, with earthen ramparts. In 1362, it was rebuilt in stone by the Polish king Kasymyr, who captured Galicia. The castle, rectangular in plan, had four towers at the corners, the highest of which was a watchtower. Inside was the princely palace, barracks, ammunition depots and a deep well. In 1648, the castle was taken by the troops of Maksym Kryvonos.

In the 19th century, it was almost completely dismantled, the "High Castle" (Vysoky Zamok) park was built in its place, and an observation deck was built, which offers the best views of the city. A fragment of the southern stone wall with loopholes that protected the entrance to the castle territory has been preserved. A long staircase leads to the top.

Currently, there is a regional television center and a relay tower on the mountain.

The Museum of Weaving and Carpet Making was opened in 2016 in Hlyniany, which at the end of the 19th century became one of the centers of the development of weaving and carpet making in Halychyna, when the weaving factory "Tovarystvo tkatske" was founded here.

In interwar times, it became famous as Mykhailo Hamul's factory, which produced carpets based on the sketches of prominent Ukrainian modernist artists. After the Second World War, it became the factory of art products "Victory". Until it closed in the mid-1990s, the factory produced carpets, tablecloths and bedspreads. In order to preserve the carpet-making traditions of Hlyniany, a multi-purpose educational and production complex "Mosaic" was created in Hlyniany, a part of which became the Museum of Weaving and Carpet-Making. The exposition presents carpets based on the drawings of artists Vasyl Tsyon, Pavlo Kovzhun, Sofiya Stryenska. Also on display is a carpet, which in 1947 refugees from Bukovyna exchanged for a bag of wheat to save themselves from starvation.

Workshops on weaving and carpet making are held on the basis of the museum.

The Museum of Weaving and Carpet Making in Hlyniany is a subdivision of the Historical and Local History Museum of Vynnyky. The exhibition will soon move to a new premises at Svyatoho Mykolaya Street, 10.

The cave cult complex of the White Croats tribe in the village of Dubrova is part of the Historical and Cultural Reserve "Stilsko Settlement". In the 8th-10th centuries, it was one of the centers of pagan cults in the capital of White Croatia in Stilsko.

The complex is a rock of limestone-sandstone origin with 21 man-made caves carved into it. All interior rooms have the correct shape, narrow entrances simultaneously serve as windows. In the walls of individual caves there are sunken square or rectangular niches. Presumably, at first, pagan worshipers lived in the caves-cells, and with the advent of Christianity, wandering monks. Nowadays, local residents have turned the cells into cellars, installed doors, hung locks and store food in them.

To the left of the cave complex is the "Dyravets Stone" or "Table Stone", which received these names because it has a large through hole, and its upper surface is flat, like a table. This megalithic stone is also called the Sun Temple. Presumably, an idol once stood on it, and the remains of altars can still be seen at its foot, so the stone clearly had a cult purpose.

The remains of another pre-Christian sanctuary can be traced on the rock to the right.

The Yavoriv National Nature Park was created in 1998 on the basis of the landscape park of the same name and the adjacent territories of the Starychiv and Maheriv Military Forest Farms.

The area of the park is 7 thousand hectares. The territory stretches like a crescent from the village of Vereshchytsia (Yavoriv district) to the village of Krekhiv (Lviv district). In the south, the national nature park borders the "Roztochchya" nature reserve, and in the north - with the Yavoriv training ground. There are 13 settlements near the park, but none of them are within the park boundaries.

The flora of the Yavoriv National Nature Park includes 707 plant species, of which 20 species are listed in the Red Book of Ukraine. The vertebrate fauna of the park includes 289 species, including 24 species of fish, 11 species of amphibians, 6 species of reptiles, 200 species of birds and 48 species of mammals. The most numerous species of mammals are the European roe deer, wild boar, rusak hare, fox, squirrel, marten, wood ferret, raccoon dog, and from those listed in the Red Book - European mink, ermine, badger. Red deer and elk occasionally enter the territory of the park from neighboring massifs.

The region in which the Yavoriv National Natural Park is located is rich in archaeological and historical and cultural monuments. A number of primitive man's sites and hillforts of the princely period have been discovered here.

Picturesque clearings and abandoned orchards are often found among the forest massifs - a memory of the former villages and hamlets that were evicted during the creation of the Yavoriv landfill.

The park has a number of pedestrian and car routes, ecological and educational trails, equipped with stationary areas for recreation.