Attractions of Pidhirtsi

The Roman Catholic Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross and Saint Joseph the Betrothed was built according to the project of the engineer Karol Romanus as a temple-tomb of the Rzevuskyi family (according to one version, the author of the project was Prince Vaclav Rzevuskyi himself).

Made in the Baroque style in the form of a rotunda, to which a 300-meter linden alley leads from the castle. Figures of the Mother of God and Saint Joseph on columns are installed in front of the church. The main facade is decorated with a portico of 14 columns of the Corinthian order, on the attic of which 8 sculptures of saints by Fessinger and Leblas were installed (one of them was destroyed during the Second World War).

In the interior, the frescoes of Lukash Smuhlevych and several Galician masters have been preserved.

Since 1861, the temple was a parish church, in 1945 it was closed by the Soviet authorities. Currently, the church is under restoration, but you can get inside during services held by the Greek Catholic parish of the Church of the Blessed Mykola Charnetskyi and the New Martyrs of the UGCC.

The Annunciation Basilian Monastery in Pidhirtsi, or simply the Pidhirtsi Monastery, was founded in the 17th century on the hill on which the ancient Rus city of Plisnesk (10th-13th centuries) stood during the early Middle Ages.

Back in 1180, Princess Olena, daughter of Prince Vsevolod of Belz, founded the first monastery at this place. The defensive ramparts of the hillfort have been partially preserved around. The baroque Saint Onufriy church with a sundial on the facade was built in 1750. A magnificent three-dimensional iconostasis with sculptures by Pavlo Hizhytskyi has been preserved.

In 1861, the first memorial service for the death of Taras Shevchenko in the western Ukrainian lands was held here.

Now the complex belongs to the Greek Catholic Church. The full name of the monastery is the Monastery of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the rank of Saint Basil the Great.

Excavations are underway on the site of an ancient Rus temple.

Pidhirtsi Castle is the most beautiful castle of the "Golden Horseshoe of Lviv Region", a vivid example of the transition from defensive to palatial architecture of noble residences of the Renaissance era.

It was built according to the project of the Italian architect Andrea del Akva and the military engineer Hiyom de Boplan (author of the famous "Description of Ukraine" and compiler of the "General Map of Ukraine") for the Crown Hetman Stanislav Konetspolskyi on the northern outskirts of the ancient Rus Plisnensk hillfort.

It was one of the most beautiful palaces on the territory of Eastern Europe, embodying the fashionable type of aristocratic residence at the time, which combined luxurious housing with bastion fortifications (the so-called palazzo in fortezza).

After the War of Liberation, the Sobeskis, who owned the castle since 1648, restored the palace and decorated the interiors. Grand balls were held here with the participation of European monarchs. The Russian Tsar Peter I, who visited here in 1711, took several sculptures by Italian masters to St. Petersburg and soon began the construction of the Petropalace. In 1728-1779, the new owner of Pidhirtsi, Vatslav Rzhevuskyi, carried out a large-scale reconstruction of the castle, began collecting a collection of sculptures and paintings, and also organized a private theater. At that time, Pidhirtsi became famous as the "Galician Versailles".

The last owners - princes Sangushko - turned their residence into a museum, but at the beginning of the First World War they had to save the collection. In 1939, Roman Sangushko took a rich collection of works of art to Brazil and created the Sangushko Foundation, which is managed by his descendants.

During Soviet times, the palace was looted, the interiors were destroyed by fire, and a tuberculosis sanatorium was placed in the premises. In the Soviet TV series "D'Artagnan and the Three Musketeers", Pidhirtsi Castle played the role of the city hall, where a ball was held for the city elders, where a brave Gascon delivered the queen's diamond pendants (many believe that it was the Louvre or Versailles).

Now the Pidhirtsi Castle Museum-Reserve is a branch of the Lviv National Art Gallery. Since 1997, restoration and creation of a museum has been underway. A courtyard with a well, a terrace on the bastions, an exhibition of old photographs in the casemates, as well as the dungeon of the castle with the "White Lady" exhibition, which is dedicated to the legend of the ghost of the Pidhirtsi castle, are open to visitors.

The Plisnesko Hillfort is the ramparts and defensive ditches of the historic city of Plisnesk, which existed from the 7th to the 13th centuries on the border of Halychyna and Volyn.

This trade and craft city had the right to self-government for a long time. Its territory, together with the post and suburbs, occupied almost 160 hectares.

The builders used the natural features of the high plateau, constructing a very complex and difficult-to-reach defense system of seven defensive lines. However, in 1241, the city was completely destroyed by the troops of Khan Batiy and has not been rebuilt since then.

Later, the Pidhirtsi Monastery was founded on its territory.

In 2015, the historical and cultural reserve "Ancient Plisnesk" was created.