Attractions of Lviv region

The museum-manor of the family of the Ukrainian poet Bohdan-Ihor Antonych has been operating since 2009 on the territory of the former presbytery in the village of Bortiatyn in the Yavoriv region, where the family of the Greek Catholic priest Vasyl Antonych lived in the first half of the 20th century.

Their son - poet, novelist, translator, literary critic Bohdan-Ihor Antonych, author of the popular carol "God was born on a sleigh" – often came to visit them. By the centenary of his birth, the presbytery was completely restored.

In five spacious rooms there is an exposition created as a branch of the Lviv Museum of the History of Religion. In the center of the exposition is a sculpture of Bohdan-Ihor Antonych, depicted under the dome of a mirror, symbolizing the night sky covered with stars.

The museum's exhibits introduce Antonych's life and creative path, the history of the formation and development of the Greek Catholic Church in Mostyshche region. Among the authentic objects are window frames and doors from the poet's Lviv apartment, personal belongings of the Antonych family, archival photos, books, manuscripts, as well as household items donated to the exhibition by the residents of the village. 

An avenue of sculptures based on Antonych's poems has been created in the yard.

Archaeological Museum of the Institute of Ukrainian Studies named Ivan Krypyakevych of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine has been working in Lviv since 2001.

Located in the historic building of the Shevchenko Scientific Society, that previously led the Ukrainian archaeological research in Galicia.

The museum presents artifacts from the Paleolithic to the late Middle Ages, found in Western Ukraine.

Along with the original artifacts of stone, bone, horn, clay, ferrous and non-ferrous metals, life-size reconstructions of Paleolithic housing methods (more than 50,000 years ago) during the existence of the Trypillya culture (IV-III millennium BC), in the early Slavic period (V-VII centuries AD), the ancient methods of leather processing, drilling of stone axes, making pottery, smelting iron, etc. were reproduced.

In total, more than 2,000 exhibits were presented.

The wooden church of Archangel Michael in the city of Komarno was built in 1754.

One of the best examples of the Galician school of folk architecture. The three-log three-headed temple has undergone several reconstructions, the last of which, carried out in 1965-1967 under the leadership of architect Ivan Mohytych, returned it to its original appearance.

An interesting feature of St. Michael's Church is the east log with archaic tiny niches to the north and south. In the interior there is a monumental painting of the 18th century.

To the west of the church is a three-tier bell tower with a tented finish, the lower tier of which is surrounded by a porch on brackets of the original structure.

Nearby is the new brick church of Saint Michael the Archangel (1910).

The Church of Archangel Michael in Pidberiztsi near Lviv was built in 1891-1892 according to the project of the famous architect Ivan Levinsky.

The baptistery church was built in the neo-Byzantine style. With the assistance of Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytskyi, in 1907-1910, the interiors were decorated with a magnificent monumental painting by the famous artist Mykhaylo Sosenko in the style of Ukrainian Art Nouveau.

Saint Michael's Church in Pidberiztsi belongs to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

The Palace of the Lviv Archbishops in Obroshyne is an outstanding example of a Galician country estate, the architecture of which intertwines the styles of Baroque, Rococo and Secession (Austrian Art Nouveau).

Since the 15th century, the village of Obroshyne near Lviv served as the summer residence of Lviv archbishops. In 1730, Archbishop Yan Skarbek built a palace here according to the project of the architect Yuzef Fontana. Initially, the architectural complex was built in the Baroque style. In 1922-1925, the architect Bronislav Victor rebuilt the front facade in the Art Nouveau style, while the park facade retained its Baroque design. The service buildings adjacent to the front gate are decorated with sculptures in the Rococo style.

Adjacent to the palace is an arboretum (60 species of trees and shrubs) with a small menagerie.

Currently, a research institute of agriculture and animal husbandry is located on the territory of the manor.

The Archcathedral of Saint George (Saint Yura)  in Lviv is one of the most beautiful architectural ensembles of the city, a pearl of the Ukrainian Baroque. The main shrine of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, where the residence of the metropolitans of the UGCC was located for a long time.

The first church on Svyatoyurska Hill in Lviv was founded during the times of the Galicia-Volyn principality. The current temple complex was built in 1744-1770 according to the project of Bernard Meretin, who combined the Rococo style with Ukrainian sacred aesthetics. Sculptures by Ivan Pinzel are installed on the main facade. The bell tower houses the oldest bell in Ukraine (1341). The most valuable relic of the temple is the miraculous icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary (XVII century).

Metropolitans Andriy Sheptytskyi and Volodymyr Sterniuk, Patriarch Yosyp Slipiy are buried in Saint George's Cathedral.

Next to the cathedral is the Metropolitan Palace, where Pope Ivan Paul II stayed in 2001 during his visit to Ukraine.

Since 1998, Saint George's Cathedral, together with the ensemble of the historical center of Lviv, has been included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The wooden church of Archstrategist Michael was built in 1856 (according to other data - in 1807).

It is located in the center of the village of Volia-Zaderevatska, near the cemetery.

It is characterized by simple forms. Nearby is a small two-story bell tower.

The Arian Tower in Belz, also known as the Snopkovsky Chapel, is the oldest surviving architectural monument in the city. It was built in 1606, as evidenced by a stone tablet with the Ravych coat of arms on the facade.

A low brick hexagonal structure is located on the old cemetery at the entrance to the center of Belz. According to one of the versions, it was built by the Belz trumpeter Andriy Snopkovsky as a burial chapel. A large basement with a separate entrance, covered by a barrel vault, is obviously the burial crypt of the Snopkovsky family. It is possible that the structure could also perform defensive functions as part of the city fortifications.

The unusual architecture of the chapel is explained by the fact that its founder could have been a supporter of Arianism - one of the currents of early Christianity, which was revived in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 16th and 17th centuries in the form of Socinianism. Hence the common name - Arian tower.

From the beginning of the 19th century, the building was used as a flour and salt warehouse. It is now partially restored. It is one of the objects of the State Historical and Cultural Reserve in the city of Belz.

In the Armenian quarter of Lviv, between the streets of Virmenska and Lesi Ukrayinky, there is a cathedral, a bell tower, the palace of the archbishops and a nunnery. The buildings form a colorful "Armenian yard".

The construction was led by the Armenian architect Dorinh (Dorhi) at the expense of Armenian merchants. The image of the cathedral has many common features with the cathedral in the ancient Armenian capital of Ani. Over the centuries, the cathedral was renovated and extended. The oldest part is the eastern part (from the 14th century). Reconstruction in 1723 gave the building a baroque appearance.

In the altar part there are traditional "khachkar" stone crosses. The sculptural groups of the 15th century "The Belief of Khoma" and "Saint Sophia with Daughters" are of significant artistic value.

The building of the Lviv City Arsenal is one of the few preserved defensive structures of the medieval city. The Arsenal was part of the system of city fortifications of the 16th century.

The first small armory existed in this place at the beginning of the 15th century, but after a fire in 1571 it was demolished and a new two-storey building for the manufacture and storage of weapons was built in 1574-1575. The architects were probably well-known Lviv builders Pavlo Shchaslyvyi and Sebastyan Mochygemba.

On the east side, the Arsenal was adjacent to the High Defensive Wall between the Tokarivska and Shevska towers. There was a bastion in front of the building. Workshops for casting guns and bells and repairing weapons were opened at the arsenal. There was an ammunition depot nearby.

Under Austrian rule in the 18th century, the building was used as an unofficial prison. In particular, it housed the Haidamaks, participants in the Koliivshchyna uprising, as the memorial plaque reminds us.

In 1981, the Arsenal Museum was opened in the premises of the City Arsenal, which represents one of the best weapons collections in the country from 30 countries. The exposition includes ancient Rus and Cossack maces, graceful Arabian sabers, daggers of the peoples of the Caucasus and the Arab East, heavy European two-handed swords, armor of Polish "winged hussars", rifles and pistols with different types of locks, guns with coats of arms and much more. Many monuments are decorated with precious metals, gems, ivory, pearls, coral, mother of pearl. And this is only a small part of the weapons collection of the Lviv Historical Museum, which has about 4.5 thousand units.

"Museum-Arsenal" is a department of the Lviv Historical Museum. There is an antique salon at the museum.

Visually impaired visitors are offered audio description.

The memorial museum of Les Kurbas in Sambir was opened in 1993 in the house where the future actor and director was born in 1887.

Kurbas was the founder of the national Western Ukrainian theater school and the creator of the famous theater-academy "Berezil".

The museum's collection includes 5,594 items: a bust of Les Kurbas by the sculptor Mykola Posikira, a bas-relief board by the sculptor Emmanuyil Mysko, paintings by Mykhaylo Yaremkiv, Stepan Muryash, Lesya Fryntsko and others.

Selections of theatrical photographs, embroidered napkins, etc. are presented.

The memorial museum of the artist Petro Obal in Stryi was opened in 2005 as a department of the local history museum "Verkhovyna". The basis of the collection was the collection of the artist's daughter, Vira Obal.

Part of the exhibition in the first hall is the artist's memorial working corner: a table, a bookcase, in which there are some books from the Obal family library and objects of applied art. The presented documents include a diploma and a certificate of graduation from the Krakow Academy of Fine Arts, a certificate of secondary education, a certificate of a gymnasium professor, photographs, early drawings of the artist.

In the second hall, works from the time of imprisonment and the stria period of Obal's work (1950–1980) are exhibited. Letters to Oha's wife, written from prisons in Kazakhstan, as well as a drawing of a barrack in which the artist's workshop was located, deserve attention.

The first wooden Catholic church in the village of Navariia near Lviv was built at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries, but it was soon burned down by the Tatars.

The same fate befell the second wooden temple.

Only in 1641-1645 was the stone Ascension Church built at the expense of Elzhbeta Humnytska. The temple was damaged during the Liberation War and in 1739 the shrine was partially dismantled. The money for the reconstruction was allocated by the Venyavskyi family, and in 1740-1748, the prominent Lviv architect with Italian roots, Bernard Meretyn, built a new Ascension Church on the old foundations in the then popular late baroque style. It was probably the first work of the master.

Finishing and decoration with the participation of the artist Antonio Tavelli continued for several more decades. A bell tower was built in 1766.

In 1991, the church, restored after the Soviet period, was re-consecrated as the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and after 2011 it changed its title to Saint Valentine, since the relics of this saint have been kept here since the 17th century.

The Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Boryslav was built in 1929.

It is located at the exit from the city in the direction of Skhidnytsia (then it was the village of Mraznytsia).

The temple, according to the project of architects Serhiy Tymoshenko and Oleksandr Pezhanskyi, is built on a high plinth made of Ternopil stone, the floor is paved with Czech tiles, the main throne is made of white Carrara marble. The church is decorated with four entrance columns made of white stone, the domes of the church are covered with copper sheet. Artistic stained glass windows were executed by the famous impressionist artist Petro Kholodnyi under the supervision of the poet and artist Bohdan Lepkyi.

In 1962, the Church of the Assumption in Boryslav was closed by the Soviet authorities.

Reborn in 1991 as Greek Catholic.

The Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Bilyi Kamin is one of the best works of the Lviv architect Amvrosiy Prykhylny.

The founders of the temple were Prince Yuriy Korybut Vyshnevetskyi and his wife Teresa.

The Church of the Assumption is surrounded by a stone wall with an exit gate and two bell towers. The wall paintings in the interior were made at the end of the 18th century.

In 1983-1991, the temple was used by the Lviv Art Gallery.

The Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary harmoniously combines elements of Baroque and Renaissance architecture.