Attractions of Volyn region

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 open-air museum of the History of Agriculture of Volyn (skansen) is located in the village of Rokyni on the territory of the local dendrological park.

The life of the Volyn peasants of the 19th century is reproduced here. There are 12 old wooden architectural buildings on a small area: a church, a mill, a forge, white and dusty houses, farm buildings, etc.

All exhibits are active, visitors are offered to use tools and household items.

By pre-order, the museum staff in ethnic costumes will heat the ovens, prepare a peasant dinner, organize folk holidays and ancient ceremonies. A regular tour is available without prior reservation.

The Holy Resurrection Cathedral is the fifth Kovel cathedral that has survived to this day.

The mention of the first Resurrection Cathedral is found in the deed of Queen Bona in 1549. After that, the wooden temple burned down several times, but was restored.

The five-domed stone cathedral was built in 1877. On the pediment there is a painting - the meeting of Jesus Christ with Mary Magdalene after the Resurrection.

Amila Ecopark with a Deer Farm opened in 2018 in the village of Radovychi, Turiia district, 60 kilometers from Lutsk. In addition to the red deer farm, the entertainment complex includes a Volyn Forest Fauna Museum, a horse farm with a carriage yard, and a museum of retro equipment.

On 122 hectares, more than 700 red deer live here, represented by four crown lines: English, Eastern European, Hungarian and Latvian. Along with them, mouflons, fallow deer, wild boars, roe deer, and kulans also live in spacious enclosures. Bears, lynxes and raccoon dogs will soon "settle".

At the horse farm, visitors can meet Tory horses, friendly ponies and donkeys. The Volyn Forest Fauna Museum also operates, where you can learn more about local animals, as well as get acquainted with the collection of horns.

The museum of retro cars and replicas is located in the old village airfield. More than 20 units of military and civilian equipment of the mid-20th century and even a sports planes are presented.

Visitors to Amila ecopark are offered excursions, horse rental, carriage or sleigh rides, retro car rental, kayaking, bicycle rental, etc.

Another project of the Amila ecopark is the Radovychi Village Museum, located in the center of the village.

The Church of Archangel Michael in Holoby was founded in 1711 (according to other sources - in 1700) by Podillya sub-starost Stefan Yaruzelskyi, completed at the expense of Yuzef Yaruzelskyi.

In 1783, Chernihiv voivode Lyudvik Vilha added two chapels to the church. 3 years later, Saint Michael's Church burned down due to a lightning strike. The same Lyudvik Vilha rebuilt it in 1793.

Initially, the one-nave building in the Baroque style received the plan of a cross after the completion of the chapels. The tempera painting of the walls and vaults was made in the 18th century by the famous artist Yuzef Prechtl.

During the First World War, the church was damaged, but in 1929-1930 of the 20th century, it was restored by the parishioners. In 1945, the Soviet authorities arranged a salt warehouse in the temple.

In 1997, the Church of Archangel Michael was returned to the Roman Catholics.

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 monastery of the Brigids in Lutsk was located in the palace that occupied the southern part of the territory of the Okolny castle and was one of the links of the defense system of the city in the XV-XVI centuries.

In the 1940s, the building was used as a prison.

Today, the Castle Holy Archangels Monastery of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine is located here. The opening of the museum of totalitarianism "Lutsk Calvary" is planned.

The Capuchin monastery in Liubeshiv was founded in 1761 at the expense of the Bratslav castellan Yan Charnetsky, who owned the city. Charnetsky did not live to see the end of construction and was buried with honors within its walls.

The monastery was consecrated only in 1786, but it did not last long. In 1817, the Capuchin monastery completely burned down, and the authorities of tsarist Russia prevented its restoration. Only in 1926, when these territories were again part of Poland, the complex began to be restored. The new monastery in honor of Saint Francis was registered in 1935, but after 4 years it was closed by the Soviet authorities.

Although the premises were not used for many years, the architectural monument has survived to this day. Today it is the parish church of Saints Cyril and Methodius.

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 homestead-museum of decorative arts was opened in her own house in Zviriv by Halyna Minder, a Volyn artist and collector of antiques, a master of artistic wood carving.

Her village house, located at the entrance to the village from the Lutsk side, immediately attracts attention with bright paintings with traditional Ukrainian ornaments. The basis of the exposition is her own works of decorative and applied art – root plastic, decorative items, wooden souvenirs. Carved furniture, wooden sculptures, decorative figurines and original jewelry are presented. Also on display is an ethnographic collection of artist: embroidered towels and shirts, lace paintings, motanka dolls, household items.

Some exhibits can be purchased.

The wooden Church of the Exaltation of the Cross in Zabolottia is located in the historic center of the village.

A wooden three-log church with equally tall log cabins, typical for northern Volyn, was built in 1794. It belongs to the ancient type of temples with a pentagonal apse. The central log house is completed by a small dome on an octagonal drum with a bulbous head on a dull lantern, which only partially protrudes from under the roof slopes.

The belfry, located to the west of the church, is wooden, three-tiered, with a dome in pseudo-Rus style (1877). To the same period belongs the reconstruction of the monument, visible in the design of the windows installed on the roof in the shape of pedestals in the form of pyramids with apples, the reworking of the dome.

The interior of the Church of the Exaltation of the Cross has preserved the features of the people.

The Flora and Fauna Museum of the Shatsk National Park operates at the Shatsk Forestry College, which was founded in 1963 by Valentyn Sulko, an honored forester of Ukraine, and now bears his name.

400 species of animals and birds are presented in the museum pavilion. The oldest exhibit is a bison, which was donated to the museum by Bilovezka Pushcha 40 years ago. 85% of the exhibits are made by the hands of teachers and students of the college.

The defensive Great Synagogue, nicknamed the "Small Castle", was part of the system of fortifications of the Okolny Castle of ancient Lutsk.

The synagogue was built in 1622-1629. From the southwest, a five-tiered square tower with loopholes adjoins it.

Currently, the building is occupied by the children's sports school "Young Dinamovets".

Torchyn People's History Museum bears the name of its founder - historian and local historian Hryhoriy Hurtovy.

This is the oldest museum in Volyn, which began to operate on a public basis - since 1957. The museum's holdings include more than 10,000 showpieces related to the history of Torchyn and the Volyn lands.

The local historian personally collected most of them in the surrounding villages. Among them are flint tools, a coin treasure of the beginning of the 16th century, Cossack weapons (in particular, an original mortar gun), fragments of ammunition of the soldiers of the two world wars, and a large ethnographic collection. A wardrobe and a mirror from the residence of the famous Polish writer Józef Ignacy Krashewski in nearby Horodok deserve special attention.

In 2009, the Torchyn Historical Museum named after Hryhoriy Hurtovyi took first place at the All-Ukrainian Museum Competition in the "History of the Native Territory" category.

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.