Attractions of Berestechko

The "Brick Pillar" on the western edge of the city of Berestechko is an obelisk chapel on the grave of Oleksandr Pronsky, the son of the city's founder.

Pronsky was a Calvinist Protestant. Returning from Rome in 1595, he gave the Catholic church in Berestechka to the Calvinists. His heir Andriy Leshchynsky was also a follower of Calvinism, under him Berestechko became one of the main centers of Socinianism (Arianism) - a radical trend in Protestantism.

The "Brick Pillar" on Pronsky's grave is a unique Socinian landmark that has not been preserved anywhere else in the world. The 16-meter obelisk is built of solid brick on cement masonry. The inscription on the north side is preserved: "Oleksandr Fridrikhovych Pronsky, from Kastelian, died in 1601, the last days of March."

The Church of the Holy Trinity is part of the monastery complex, founded in the 18th century in honor of the victory of the Poles in the Battle of Berestechko.

The massive and at the same time elegant temple is made in Rococo style. The bell tower and cell building are located nearby.

According to legend, an underground passage from the church led to the estate of Prince Pronsky, which is located nearby, and another passage stretched for 2 kilometers to the estate of Prince Rynchynsky.

Today, the Trinity Church belongs to the Greek Catholics.

The chapel of Saint Tekla is located on a small mound on the western edge of the city of Berestechko.

The mound was built in memory of the tragedies of 1658, when the Tatars destroyed the city and captured 750 of its inhabitants, including 43 nuns of a Catholic monastery with an abbess named Teklya. According to legend, about half a thousand captured girls (Ukrainian and Polish girls) refused to follow the invaders and were executed, and the Tatars used their bodies to make a way for passage through the swamp.

The chapel, built in 1698 on the grave of tortured girls, was named after the first martyr Saint Tekla.

The Berestechko People's Historical Museum was founded in 1963 by the local historian Hryhoriy Fylypovych, and since 2019 it has been located in the premises of the Culture and National Memory Center of the Berestechko City Council.

The museum's holdings include about 1,500 objects, the most interesting of which are presented in three exhibition halls. The exposition of the first hall tells about life in this area from the Neolithic to Cossack times, in particular about the Battle of Berestechko in 1651.

In the second hall, crafts, trade and bourgeois life of the late 19th and early 20th centuries are presented.

The third hall is dedicated to the events of the First and Second World Wars, the liberation struggle of the UPA soldiers, and the current events of the Russian-Ukrainian war.

The majestic Holy Trinity Cathedral in Berestechko was founded in 1910 in memory of the Cossacks who died in the Battle of Berestechko in 1651.

The three-level Trinity Church was supposed to be a copy of the Volodymyr Cathedral in Kyiv. Before the beginning of the First World War, they did not have time to complete the construction. The Polish authorities allowed the completion of only the underground part and the first tier, because after the completion of the upper tier, the Orthodox cathedral would overshadow the neighboring Catholic church.

Only in the 1930s, a temporary roof was built over the unfinished cathedral. In this form, it existed until 1995 (it was closed from 1960 to 1990). Currently, the construction of the Trinity Cathedral has been completed, although the original project has not been found.

The cathedral looks especially impressive from the opposite bank of the river.

The estate of the Pronsky princes, who owned Berestechko since 1544, has survived only partially, in a significantly rebuilt form.

According to legend, the Pronsky Palace was connected to the Trinity Church by an underground passage.

Currently, the Berestechko psychoneurological boarding school is located on the territory of the manor and the park.

The former manor of Prince Rinchynskyi is located at the exit from Berestechkoin the direction of Horokhiv (this place is still called Rinchyna).

Vocational and technical school No. 27 is currently located on the site of the manor. The park and the manor house, which now houses the school's library, have been preserved.