Attractions of Zhytomyr region

The Saint Nicholas Church in Olevsk is an architectural monument of the 16th century.

It was built in 1596 under the Nemyrych nobles, and in 1618 it was reconstructed, as evidenced by the date on the stone cross built into the western wall of the vestibule attached to the church.

The base of the building has a simple squat shape with five helmet-shaped domes, which appeared after the reconstruction in 1864. Narrow slit windows indicate the defensive character of the building. The bell tower has a similar shape.

The iconostasis is modern, the old icons have not survived. Of particular value was the icon "Our Lady of Olevsk", which was removed from the church during the Soviet regime and kept in the Kharkiv Museum.

The Five-Bath Saint Nicholas Church in Mezhyrichka is an example of Polissya wooden architecture.

Built in 1772. Church of the cross in the plan. The central log cabin is covered with an octagonal tent on a big eight. The branches of the cross are covered with plastic tents topped with bulbous heads. Nearby is a square two-story bell tower.

Centuries-old Polissya houses, painted in the traditions of these places, have also been preserved in the village.

The wooden church of Saint Nicholas in the village of Soloviivka was built in 1789. In 2010, the belfry, dismantled during the Soviet regime, was restored by the efforts of the village community.

On August 20, 2020, a fire broke out in the Saint Nicholas Church, as a result of which the church burned down completely.

Two statues of the apostles Luke and Mark from this church are now in the Kyiv National Art Museum.

Currently, the reconstruction of the Saint Nicholas Church is underway.

Saint Nicholas Church at Bazarna Square in Chervone was built in 1877 at the expense of landowner Fedir Tereshchenko, other parishioners and the treasury.

The stone temple was originally five-story, but in Soviet times it was deprived of domes. Currently, only the central one has been restored.

A carved iconostasis made of Carrara marble, similar to the one in Tereshchenko's ancestral temple in Hlukhiv, has been preserved.

The church of Saint Oleksandr Nevsky was built in the village of Vilnopillia in the middle of the 19th century. During Soviet times, the temple was closed.

It is an architectural monument of local importance. Belongs to the UOC of the Moscow Patriarchate, banned in Ukraine.

The Roman Catholic Church of Saint Stanislav Kostka was built in the city of Baranivka thanks to the efforts of the future bishop Father Stanislav Shyrokoradyuk.

The temple was consecrated in 1994, and in 1997, the house of the Franciscan novitiate was rebuilt near the Catholic shrine. The church of Saint Stanislav Kostka belongs to the Franciscan-Bernardine order (the order of Friars Minor).

The Roman Catholic Church of Saint Vlas is located in the center of Andrushivka, opposite the central entrance to the park with the Berzhynsky-Tereshchenko Palace.

Since 1994, the service has been held at the cemetery, then at the house of parishioner Mariya Bila. In 2006, the first abbot, Father Yan Safinskyi, was appointed, who started the construction of a modern brick church in Andrushivka. Its construction was completed in 2010, but the arrangement and equipment of the shrine continued.

The Roman Catholic parish of Saint Wenceslas was organized in 1907 by the inhabitants of the villages of Kroshnya Cheska and Kroshnya Ruska (present-day Kroshnyansky district of Zhytomyr), mainly Czechs and Poles.

Andrii Arshenevsky allocated the land for the construction of the church. In 1908, the church of St. Wenceslas was built.

During the Soviet rule, the temple was closed, a club was placed in the church building, then a library, and since 1960 - the Zhytomyr food processing plant of the regional consumer cooperative.

The parish of Saint Wenceslas was revived in 2001 thanks to the abbot Father Ludwik Kamilewski, and in 2002 the church was returned to the faithful. The chapel and adjacent buildings were reconstructed, the roof of the main building was covered, the tower and the facade of the church were rebuilt. A commemorative sign in the form of a cross was installed on the landscaped territory of the church on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the parish.

The white stone Savior and Transfiguration Cathedral in Ovruch was rebuilt in 1993 on the site of a church destroyed during the Soviet era.

Back in the 17th century, there was a Jesuit church here, which later became a Uniate church, and in the 19th century, it was rebuilt into an Orthodox church.

The Transfiguration Cathedral was restored in a new architectural form.

Part of the relics of Saint Macarius the Wonderworker of Kaniv are preserved in the cathedral.

The majestic Savior Transfiguration Cathedral is considered a symbol of the city of Zhytomyr, one of the largest Orthodox churches in Ukraine.

It was built in 1866-1874 by the architect Karl Rahau as the main Orthodox church in Volyn on the site of the Basilian Church. Made in Byzantine-Rus style with characteristic features of Ancient Rus architecture of the 11th-12th centuries. The height of the towers reaches 53 meters.

The interior of the Transfiguration Cathedral is richly decorated using local granite and labradorite.

The palace and park complex in Ivnytsia was founded in the middle of the 18th century by the nobleman Yozef Chernetsky. The 14-hectare landscape park with a cascade of ponds is located on the left bank of the Ivyanka River. There was also a two-story palace.

In 1814, the estate in Ivnytsia was purchased by Baron Yozef de Shoduar. His son Stanislav began to collect a rich library and art gallery in the palace. The collection was continued by his grandson Ivan de Shoduar, who later moved to Zhytomyr. Then the collection of Shoduars' paintings formed the basis of the Zhytomyr Art Gallery.

The last owner of the Ivnytsia estate was the sugar factory Mykola Tereshchenko.

On the territory of Ivnytsia Park, fragments of the entrance gate, stylized watchtowers and one of the farm buildings have been preserved. About 45 species of trees and shrubs grow in the park, among which ash, spruce, linden, maple and elm predominate. The age of many trees exceeds two centuries.

Slovechansko-Ovrutsky ridge - a height in the north of Zhytomyr region, a remnant of ancient mountain ridges.

The ridge stretches for almost 60 kilometers from west to east from the village of Chervonka to the town of Ovruch. The width of the ridge is from 5 to 14-20 kilometers. The highest point (316 meters) is located east of the village of Horodets. The southern slopes of the ridge are steep, the northern slopes are gentler. The surface is hilly, dissected by ravines up to 20-25 meters deep.

The stone (rare red and pink quartzites and sandstones) quarried here was used in the construction of Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, and the Golden Gate in Kyiv.

Many hillforts and barrows were investigated on the territory Slovechansko-Ovrutsky ridge. Among the vegetation, there are dark-barked birch, rock oak, evergreen ivy, Karelian birch, Pontic azalea, which is considered endemic. Similar species in Ukraine occur only in the Crimea.

A dirt road runs along the entire ridge, sometimes between very deep ravines. The ravines are incredibly picturesque, the road is mostly gravel.

The Stavky comprehensive school was founded in 1895 as a one-class public school by patroness Olha Vanhenheym, a relative of the landowner Vasyl Pikhno, who owned an estate in Stavky. In 1903-1904, the philanthropist built a new school with her own funds, already two-class, with six-year education, which she handed over to the district zemstvo. Vanhenheym herself worked at the school as a teacher.

The two-story wooden building of the school has been completely preserved. It houses the Stavky comprehensive school of grades I-III. A memorial plaque was installed.

Since the 18th century, the estate in Brovky Pershi belonged to the Stsybor-Rylsky family, who were distant relatives of the Ukrainian poet Maksym Rylsky.

Until the 1990s, the manor house housed a school. Now that the school has moved to a new building, the state of the estate and the park is depressing.

The only museum in Ukraine of the outstanding Ukrainian pianist Svyatoslav Richter was opened in 2015 in the premises of the Zhytomyr Music School No. 2, which also bears the name of Svyatoslav Richter.

Since 1930, the music school has been located in a historic building on the corner of Ivan Franko and Svyatoslav Richter streets, erected in 1904 as a profit building. Composer Oleksandr Bilash and conductor Vadym Hnedash studied here, many cultural figures performed here, including the world-famous pianist Svyatoslav Richter.

For the 100th anniversary of the musician's birthday, the "Svyatoslav Richter Memorial Room" museum was opened, which has been named after the musician since 2018. The exposition presents archival documents, photographs and personal belongings of the musician. Richter's painting works are also exhibited, in particular the oil painting "In the country". The permanent exhibition "The World Through the Eyes of Svyatoslav Richter" is open, where almost 50 photos taken by him personally are presented.