Attractions of Vinnytsia region

The Museum of Ethnography and Folk Art named after Mariya Rudenko in Mohyliv-Podilskyi is located in the premises of the House of Culture.

It is mainly dedicated to Podillya vytynanka - the traditional art of artistic carving. The exhibition is based on the works of local craftswoman Mariya Rudenko, an honored cultural worker of Ukraine, a famous folklorist, artistic director of the folklore and ethnographic ensemble "Horlytsia".

In addition to carvings, the exposition presents over 3,000 folk songs, thousands of proverbs and sayings, fairy tales, legends, tales, incantations, and lamentations.

The museum of the prominent Podillya folklorist and ethnographer Hnat Tansyura was opened in 1990 in his house in Haisyn, where he lived and worked in the middle of the 20th century.

Tansyura became known as a collector of more than 2,500 Ukrainian songs and the author of many printed works, among which the famous "Notes of a Folklore Collector". The samples of oral folk art recorded by him form the basis of the museum collection, which includes more than 4,500 items. Relics of the Tansyura's life tell about the work of an outstanding folklorist. Here you can see personal things, manuscripts, printed publications, photographs, embroideries. A prominent place among the exhibits is the harmonium purchased by Tansyura from the church of Saint John Nepomucen in the village of Kuna. 

The Folklore Museum of Hnat Tansyura is a cultural and educational center for the study and promotion of oral folk art, ethnology, and song richness of the Haisyn region.

The "Steinbruch" Headquarters of the commander-in-chief of the German Air Force, Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering during the Second World War.

It was located 5 kilometers northeast of Kalynivka, next to the military airfield in Hulivtsi.

The construction of the Goering Headquarters began in 1941 at the same time as the Hitler and Himmler Headquarters located nearby. The complex consisted of two underground bunkers connected by a tunnel, a guard barracks, a dining room and several utility rooms. Since Goering was rarely here, the Headquarters was mostly used as a Luftwaffe command post.

In 1944, before the retreat, the Germans blew up the bunkers. Impressive ruins have been preserved.

The building of the Great Synagogue in Chechelnyk was built in the 18th century from limestone. Preserved elements of rich decorative decoration. The main facade of the building overlooks the small Antonishyna Street.

After its closure in 1926, the synagogue was rebuilt as a furniture store, after the restoration of Ukraine's independence, the building was transferred to private ownership. It is in a dilapidated state, the possibility of restoration is being discussed.

The Catholic Church of the Holy Trinity is one of the first and largest in Podillya, founded in 1603 in Khmilnyk, which was a significant center of Protestantism at the end of the 16th century.

The temple was damaged during the Liberation War, then it was badly damaged during the Turkish rule at the end of the 17th century. Majorly renovated and expanded at the expense of Mykhaylo Zaleskyi, rededicated in 1728 under the name Beheading of Ioann the Baptist.

The last reconstruction was carried out at the beginning of the 20th century. An oil painting of the early 20th century has been preserved in the interior of the church in the Tuscan Baroque style.

Today it is an active Roman Catholic church of the Holy Trinity of the Kamyanets-Podilskyi diocese.

The Holy Trinity Brailiv Monastery, founded in 1635 in Vinnytsia on the initiative of the magnate Mykhaylo Kropyvnytskyi, has occupied the complex of the former Catholic monastery since the middle of the 19th century.

In 1740, Voivode of Volyn Frantsishek Potocki founded it as a monastery of the Catholic Trinitarian order. The monks of this order, exotic for Ukraine, specialized in the redemption of Christians from Turkish captivity. The first monastery buildings were wooden. The construction of the current architectural ensemble was completed in 1778 by the Podillya magnate Stanislav Potocki. The monastery consisted of a church with a tall baroque tower and cells attached on both sides. In 1787, the Polish king Stanislav Avhust specially visited Brailiv to admire the monastery's paintings by the artist John Prachtel (buried on the territory), which are now partially restored.

After the Polish uprising of 1831, the Trinitarian monastery was closed, and in 1845 the Trinity Convent from Vinnytsia was transferred to it. During the reconstruction, in order to give the church an Orthodox appearance, a tented finish was added to the tower, a small figure of eight was erected over the gable roof, and a gate in the Moscow Baroque style was built in front of the entrance.

The main shrine is the icons of the Brailiv-Pochaiv Mother of God and the Brailiv-Chenstokhova Mother of God.

The Museum of the History of the Village of Hopchytsia was created in 1990 on the initiative of Anton Kolisnyk, a history teacher at the Hopchytsia High School, and in 2018 it was awarded the title of People's Museum.

The main funds of the museum include 430 exhibits, which are presented in seven museum halls. The modern exposition tells about the nature and history of the village of Hopchytsia and the entire Pohrebyshche region, in particular about the development of local agriculture. A 3D tour of the museum is presented on the community website.

The estate in Krupoderyntsi was built at the end of the 19th century by Count Mykola Ihnatiev, who settled here after resigning from the position of Minister of Internal Affairs of Russia. Before that, Ignatiev became famous as one of the best Russian diplomats. Thanks to his efforts, in 1878, the San Stefano Peace Treaty was signed with Turkey, beneficial for Russia, which ended the Russian-Turkish war. One of the most important points of the treaty was the restoration of Bulgarian statehood, for which Bulgarians consider Ihnatiev a national hero.

In Krupoderyntsi, the count spent the last years of his life with his family, setting up a model farm. The surviving two-story stone manor house of the Ignatievs is decorated with a carved portico and other wooden details.

After the Bolshevik coup of 1917, the estate housed a local commune, then an orphanage, and now a high school.

In 2011, the Mykola Ihnatiev museum was opened at the school, which presents documents and photographs related to his life.

The church-mausoleum of the Nativity of the Virgin in Krupoderyntsi was built in 1895 by Count Mykola Ihnatiev as a family tomb.

During the design of the temple, the architect Oleksandr Pomerantsev chose as a model the Cathedral of Saint Oleksandr Nevsky in the capital of Bulgaria, Sofia, where Ignatiev is considered the author of the San Stefano Treaty, which revived Bulgarian statehood.

In terms of architectural style, size and decoration, the church in Krupoderyntsi had no equal in the district. After Ihnatiev's death in 1908, he was buried in the lower part of the mausoleum, and 9 years later his wife rested there.

Divine service in the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin was restored in 1944.

In the depth of the churchyard rises a memorial cross on a massive stone block, on the sides of which are four ancient ship anchors. This is a monument to Lieutenant Vasyl Ihnatiev and other sailors who died in the Battle of Tsushima in 1905, erected by the lieutenant's mother and widow for the 10th anniversary of the battle.

Illintsi Museum of Local Lore was founded in 1967 on the initiative of local historians of the district, opened after reconstruction in 2017 on the territory of the local sports and recreation complex, near the stadium "Kolos".

The exposition in five halls tells about the nature, history and culture of the region. In particular, the archeological collection of artifacts of Trypillya culture, ethnographic selection of household items and household goods of the XVII-XX centuries, collections of musical instruments, utensils, ceramics, numismatics are presented.

The art gallery presents works by local artists Valentyna Kohut, Alina Shmyhora, Anatoliy Herovymchuk and others.

Ilyinets astroblema is a meteorite crater that appeared 400 million years ago at the site of the fall of a cosmic body with a mass of about 40 million tons and a diameter of 250-300 meters.

Ilyinets Crater was first discovered in 1851 by Professor Kostyantyn Feofilaktov of Kyiv University, but it was not until 1973 that its cosmic origin was established ("astroblema" in Greek - "stellar wound", i.e. impact crater). Before that, it was believed that this was the mouth of an ancient volcano.

The exposed rocks have some external similarity with volcanic tuffs, but in fact they belong to zuvites - fragile rocks of impact-meteoric origin. For centuries, they were used by local residents to make millstones (this is where the name of the nearby village of Zhornyshche comes from).

The center of the crater with an inner diameter of 4 kilometers and an outer diameter of 10 kilometers is located between the villages of Luhova and Ivanki. You can see the Ilyinets crater in a cross-section just beyond the eastern outskirts of the village of Luhova, where quarries are located, in which local residents still extract building stone.

The Church of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Ivaniv was a part of the Bernardine monastery founded in 1780 by Solomiya Kholonevska.

Decorated with columns of the Corinthian order and baroque vases. To the right of the church building is an L-shaped church building, veneered in Soviet times with tiles.

The church was famous for the largest organ in Vinnytsia, which was destroyed by the German invaders in 1943.

The stone Intercession Church in Stara Pryluka was built in 1910 by engineer Rikhard Kraus, as evidenced by a plaque built into the stairs.

The ancient paintings have not been preserved, but the height of the bath is still impressive - about 20 meters.

In the 1960s, the church was closed, but in 1990, with the help of the village council, it became active again.

On January 1, 2023, the first Divine Service of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine was held in the Intercession Church.

The Carmelite monastery was founded in Bar in 1531, but soon the wooden buildings were destroyed.

In 1616, the construction of a college and a Jesuit monastery was started on the ruins. It, in turn, was destroyed during the Liberation War of 1648-1654, but the stone monastery building was partially preserved. Reconstruction began in 1701 and continued intermittently until 1787.

The church and the cell building are made in the form of a single building in the Baroque style, which looks little like a temple. In 1908, the belfry over the gate was built.

For some time, the complex belonged to the Orthodox Church, but now its owners are Benedictine missionary sisters.

The castle-palace in Ivaniv traces its history from the 15th century, when Prince Zbarazkyi built the Yaniv fortress.

In the 16th century, the castle was rebuilt according to the bastion system. The fortifications had the shape of a square, at the corners of which there were bastions with small towers, and there was a deep moat with water around it.

In the 18th century, when Yaniv passed into the possession of the Polish magnates Kholonevsky, the need for fortifications already disappeared. Count Adam Kholonevsky built a palace on the site of the fortress, using some of the walls and towers of the medieval castle. The palace was made in the style of the transition from baroque to classicism.

The Column Hall with fat columns, the Marble Hall with walls decorated with white marble, stucco rosettes on the ceilings, stairs to the second floor have survived from the old interiors to our days.

All this can be seen from September to June, as the Kholonevsky Palace is now occupied by a boarding school for orphans and children from low-income families.