Attractions of Sambir

The Greek Catholic Church of the Nativity of the Holy Virgin in Sambir was built in 1728 at the expense of the Komarnytsky magnates on the site of the first wooden Ukrainian church, which the Polish authorities allowed to be built inside the city in 1558.

The paintings were done by the icon painter Martyn Yablonskyi. The miraculous Sambir icon of the Mother of God, which is considered one of the oldest in Ukraine (crowned in 1928 by Pope Pius XI), was transferred from the old one to the new church. After the Second World War, the icon was considered lost, but in 1996 it was found, restored and returned to the church.

Tourists are more attracted by the fact that the relics of Saint Valentine - the patron saint of lovers - are kept in the Church of the Nativity of the Holy Virgin. In 1759, the Holy Relics, which previously rested in the cemetery of Saint Priscilla in Rome, were transferred by the Vatican to Sambir for safekeeping. The authenticity of the relic is confirmed by a document of the Pope. On Valentine's Day and the Epiphany, relics are carried around the temple and displayed on a tetrapod for a week for general veneration.

Defensive Catholic Church of the Martyrdom of Saint John the Baptist in Sambir, built in the 16th century according to the project of architect Yuzef Tarnovchyk instead of a wooden church that burned down, has survived to our days after several reconstructions.

The largest was held after the fire in 1642. The architecture of the church combines Gothic and Renaissance features. It is the tallest and grandest building in the city.

The church is distinguished by its rich interior decoration. The Neo-Gothic organ, mounted in 1888 by the firm of Yan Slivinskyi from Lviv, has been preserved.

In 2007, a monument to Pope Ioann Paul II was erected in front of the church of Saint John the Baptist.

The first wooden town hall was built in Sambir back in 1390, after the city received Magdeburg law.

The stone building on the current site was built in 1580, but half a century later it burned down during a fire. Only the basement premises were preserved, which became the basis for the construction of the current town hall.

The construction of the two-story building in the Renaissance style with a high 40-meter tower was completed in 1670. At the same time, the numbers "1606" are placed above one of the entrances, which gives reason to some researchers to consider the Sambir town hall as the oldest in Ukraine.

In 1844, a major reconstruction was carried out. The tower clock by the Prague master Heinz, which is still running, was installed on the tower in 1885 in place of a broken old clock.

The Sambir Town Hall still serves its purpose - it houses the state authorities: the City Hall and the City Council of People's Deputies.

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 monastery of the Brigids sisters was founded in Sambir in 1621 by the Polish magnate Mykola Danylovych from Zhuriv.

On the hill at the intersection of today's Ivana Franko and Stepana Bandery streets, he erected a brick and stone monastery, a church, and farm buildings. The complex was surrounded by walls and moats, had a defensive tower, and therefore it was included in the defense system of the city. The monastery complex is built in the form of a horseshoe - the southern shoulder forms a church, and the western and northern - monastery premises.

In 1782, the Austrian authorities liquidated the Brigids monastery, military warehouses and stores were placed in its premises. Since 1946, a sewing factory has been located in the monastery buildings, and a military hospital has been located in the pompous building of the treasury, which was added to them in 1905.

A large three-story building in the style of classicism, which now houses the Sambir branch of the Drohobych Pedagogical University, is considered one of the best buildings of old Sambir.

It was built in 1909 as a county courthouse on the site of the liquidated Bernardine monastery. A prison (now a correctional center) was built near the court. At the entrance to the prison, there is a monument to the victims of the Bolshevik terror, dedicated in particular to the political prisoners shot in the Sambir prison in 1941 before the retreat of the Red Army.

During Soviet times, the building of the county court was in the hands of the military. In 1999, the Faculty of Social and Humanities of Ivan Franko Drohobych Pedagogical University was opened there. There is a bust of Ivan Franko in front of the entrance to the building, and the square is named after the writer.

The first museum of the "Boykivshchyna" society in Sambir was organized in 1927 and is dedicated to the history and culture of the native inhabitants of the Boykiv region, whose informal capital is Sambir.

During the Soviet era, the museum was closed. Restored in 1990 as the Historical and Ethnographic Museum "Boykivshchyna".

Located in the former building of the parish school, built in 1679 on the foundations of the 16th century.

Permanent expositions: "Material and economic culture of the Boyki", "Family of Kozakevych" (one of the most ancient Sambir tribes), "Struggle for Ukrainian statehood in Sambir region and Boyki region".

In 2023, the Pharmacy-Museum "Under the Star" was opened in two halls of the "Boykivshchyna" museum, which tells about the history of medicine in the Boykivshchyna region. In the first hall, the interior of a classic city pharmacy of the XIX-XX centuries is recreated, glass and ceramic containers for medicines, various pharmaceutical equipment are presented. The second hall is designed as a witch doctor's room.

Workshops on painting Easter eggs are held.

The collegium at the Jesuit monastery was founded in Sambir in 1680.

Hetman Petro Sahaydachniy studied here.

The current Baroque building was built in 1756-1759 by the architect Karshnytskiy.

Later, the Jesuit college was transformed into a gymnasium. Now it is the Sambir College of Culture.

The Church of Saint Stanislav in Sambir is part of the whole monastic complex of the Jesuit order, built between 1709 and 1751 according to the project of architects Jan Delamaris and Pavlo Hizhytsky.

A baroque church, rectangular in plan, three-nave, basilica type. The main facade is flanked by low two-story towers topped by triangular pediments. In the interior, six pillars support a system of vaults.

Nearby, in 1756-1759, the architect Karshnytsky built a baroque building for the Jesuit college.

After the liquidation of the Jesuit order, the monastery and collegium passed to the Bernardines. In 1935, an organ was installed in the church, built by the Czech-Austrian firm Gebruder Rieger from South Moravia, which after the restoration of 1980-1987 is still operating.

The cell building of the Bernandine monastery has been occupied by the Sambir school of culture since Soviet times.

The building of the church of Saint Stanislav is used as an organ music hall. Concerts take place every Saturday at 11:30.

The hunting house of the Polish king Stefan Batory in Sambir was built in the 16th century on the territory of the royal Sambir castle, which was located south of the city center.

Later, a complex of buildings of the current district hospital was built on the castle ramparts. The house of Stefan Batory was adapted for the hospital church of Saint Panteleymon.

The pompous building of the Directorate of the Treasure County Government (the so-called "Treasure Directorate") was built in Sambir during the Austrian rule in the neo-Gothic style.

In Soviet times, a military hospital was located here. Currently, it is the building of the Sambir city district court.