Attractions of Berezhany

The Armenian Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary in Berezhany was built at the expense of the Armenian community, which played a significant role in the life of the city in the 17th and 18th centuries.

The church was built in the Baroque style with defensive elements. The fortification purpose of the building is indicated by the defensive walls that surrounded it. During the fire of 1810, the church was badly damaged, but in 50 years it was restored to its original appearance.

After the Second World War, when the Lviv Armenian-Catholic Archdiocese was liquidated, the church was abandoned and transformed first into a granary, later into a collective farm club. Subsequently, the church building was not used for a long time and began to gradually collapse.

During the time of Ukraine's independence, in order to prevent the destruction of the church, the Greek-Catholic community carried out a major repair of the church. At the end of 2016, the local Greek-Catholic parish of the Holy Trinity handed over the ensemble of the former Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary to the city's Armenian community.

The Berezhany Synyavsky Castle is one of the best examples of Renaissance defensive architecture in Ukraine, which the Poles called the "Eastern Wawel".

Monument of architecture and urban planning of national importance.

The magnificent defensive residence in Berezhany was built in 1534-1554 by the Rus (Ukrainian) voivode, Grand Crown Hetman Mykola Synyavsky. The impregnable fortification with four towers was built by Italian craftsmen according to the New Dutch system by French engineer Hiyom de Boplan using an artificial water barrier in the floodplain of the Zolota Lypa River. The facades of the palace buildings in the castle courtyard were crowned by two-story arcades-galleries like the Italian palazzo, which surrounded the buildings around the perimeter, and the windows were decorated with Renaissance carvings. The interiors of 14 ceremonial halls were decorated with paintings with battle scenes, on the third floor of the palace was a rich art gallery.

The Trinity Church was located on the territory of the castle, the former splendor of which can be judged even in its current dilapidated condition. In the 17th century, the Synyavsky tomb with marble tombstones by Yan Pfister was added to the church. Mykola Synyavsky and his sons Hiyeronim and Yan, as well as Hiyeronim's wife Anna, were buried here.

In the XIX century the castle began to decline, suffered severe damage during the two world wars. In Soviet times, it was abandoned and turned into a landfill.

In 2002, the Berezhany Synyavsky Castle became part of the State Historical and Architectural Reserve in Berezhany, and its restoration began. A small museum exposition has been opened on the territory of the castle, excursions are organized, souvenirs can be bought.

The Berezhany City Book Museum is located on the first floor of Berezhany City Hall.

Founded in 1984, since 1994 it has been a department of the Ternopil Museum of Local Lore. It tells about the history of printing in Ukraine and about outstanding writers of the region.

The exhibition presents old prints of the XVII-XIX centuries, the first edition of Taras Shevchenko's "Kobzar", "Grammar of the Little Russian Language in Galicia, composed by Ivan Vahylevych" (1845), "Grammar of the Ruthenian (Ruthenian) language" by Yosyp Levytsky (1834).

Also on display are paintings by Lev Lepky, graphics by Olena Kulchytska and others.

A separate exposition is dedicated to the public and philanthropic activities of Roman Smyk.

In addition, the Berezhany City Hall houses the Berezhany Museum of Local Lore, the Museum of Sacred Art and Church History, and the Bohdan Lepky Museum.

The State Historical and Architectural Reserve (DIAZ) in Berezhany was established in 2001 to protect, restore and use the city's cultural heritage sites, which preserved European planning buildings from the fourteenth and seventeenth centuries, architectural ensembles Rynok Square, Bankova and Armenian streets.

In total, the reserve unites more than 30 architectural monuments, 6 of which are of national importance, including the Berezhany Castle Complex (Synyavsky Castle).

The administration of the reserve is housed in a manor house in the style of late classicism (empire) of the early XIX century, which is an architectural monument of local significance. The central part of the facade is decorated with a portico with four columns of the Corinthian order and a classical pediment. In 1828-1829, while studying at the local gymnasium, the famous Ukrainian writer and educator Markiyan Shashkevych lived in this house.

In the administration of the Berezhany Historical and Architectural Reserve you can book sightseeing tours of the city, thematic tours of the Synyavsky Castle and the outskirts of Berezhany.

The Berezhany Museum of Local Lore is located on the second floor of the Berezhany Town Hall, which is an architectural monument of national importance.

Built in 1803-1811, the two-story town hall building with a clock tower reflects the typical Halician style of provincial urban planning of the early classicism period. It is the central architectural dominant of the Rynok Square in Berezhany.

On the ground floor there were shops, and on the second floor in 1805 the Berezhany Gymnasium was opened, where the writer and educator Markiyan Shashkevych and the writer-literary critic and public figure Bohdan Lepky studied.

The Berezhany Museum of Local Lore opened here in 1980. The museum exposition is opened in 26 halls: "Natural Hall", "Archeology Hall", "Middle Ages and Cossack times in Berezhany", "Berezhany Gymnasium - center of education, science and culture", "Literary Berezhany", "Plast History and Political Repression Hall", "World War II", "Boyan Choir", "National Revival Hall", "Lemko Room", etc.

The model of Berezhany Castle attracts the attention of visitors, as well as exhibits that tell about the history of the Sieniawski family and the birth of Berezhany, the coat of arms of the Potocki dynasty.

Valuable artifacts are an authentic Cossack battle braid, Cossack cradles, a spearhead and a Cossack pistol.

A separate exposition is devoted to the history of the USS (Ukrainian Sich Riflemen) in the Berezhany region, in particular the battle on Mount Lysonya.

In addition, the Berezhany Town Hall houses the Regional Communal Museum of Bohdan Lepky, the Museum of Sacred Art and Church History, and the Berezhany Book Museum.

The strict complex of defensive monastery buildings of the Bernardine order rises above the city on Storozhisko hill.

It was built in the 17th century in the Baroque style at the expense of the great crown hetman Mykola Synyavsky. The central building is the Saint Nicolas church with a stone fence, which gives it a pronounced defensive appearance. Being near the city walls, the temple was part of the system of city fortifications.

During the Soviet era, the monastery cells were used as cells in a penal colony for minors.

After the independence of Ukraine, services were resumed in the Mykolaivska church - the monastery church became the church of the Pratulin Martyrs of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, whose activities were prohibited in Soviet times. At the expense of parishioners, the dome with the cross was restored in the church, works on the restoration of the church are ongoing.

A picturesque panorama of the old city opens from the height of the monastery hill.

The Regional Municipal Museum of Bohdan Lepky in Berezhany opened in 1995 in the Berezhany City Hall on Rynok Square.

It was here that the Berezhany Gymnasium was located from 1805, where the outstanding Ukrainian poet, writer, literary critic and public figure Bohdan Lepky studied and later taught. Here he began to write his first poems and stories.

The main fund of the Bohdan Lepky Museum has about 3,500 exhibits. The exposition in six halls consists of lifetime editions of the writer's works, original photographs, various documents, textbooks, publications in German magazines and paintings. 

In addition, the Berezhany City Hall houses the Berezhany Museum of Local Lore, the Museum of Sacred Art and Church History, and the Berezhany Book Museum.

The Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul in the late Gothic-Renaissance style has a pronounced fortification character, as it was part of the system of city fortifications.

It was built in the years 1600-1620 on the initiative of the then owner of Berezhany, Adam Yeronim Synyavsky, according to the project of the architect Pavlo Rymlyanin, as the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin. The bell tower was rebuilt from a defensive tower in 1741.

In Soviet times, a gym was placed here.

Now the church again belongs to the Catholic community of the city, consecrated in honor of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul.

The Greek-Catholic Church of the Holy Trinity was built in the 18th century on the site of shopping rows.

Over the course of two centuries, it was rebuilt several times. Initially, it had Gothic-Renaissance forms, but in the course of numerous reconstructions, it gradually acquired a modern appearance.

The relics of Saint John the Baptist are stored here, which in 1673 were presented to the Berezhany Voivode Synyavsky and were in the chapel of the Berezhany Castle, from where they were transferred to the Church of the Holy Trinity in the 18th century (before that, the relics of the saint were in Antioch, where they were taken by the apostle Luke, and from there they got to Constantinople). After the Second World War, the relics disappeared, but in 2000 they were found and put on display again for commemoration. Another shrine is the miraculous icon of the Roman Mother of God.

A monument to Taras Shevchenko was erected in front of the church.

The building of the city magistrate in Berezhany was erected in the middle of the XIX century. Its purely administrative functional role as a body of city self-government explains the finishing modesty of the facades.

In the 1920s and 1930s, the city museum was located on the ground floor of the building. The Magistrate's Assembly Hall was often used for various ceremonial events, in particular in 1898 the famous Ukrainian poet Bohdan Lepky delivered a speech here in honor of the 100th anniversary of the publication of "Aeneid" by Ivan Kotlyarevsky.

Nowadays, the premises of the building are occupied by the research department of the State Historical and Architectural Reserve in the city of Berezhany, the DIAZ exhibition hall, art school, district archive.

The Museum of Sacred Art and Church History opened in 2007 in the Berezhany Town Hall on Rynok Square.

The exhibition presents more than 2,300 exhibits, including works of icon painting and sculpture, gold sewing and minting. The museum tells about the thorny path of religion in the Galician lands with periods of prosperity, decades of oblivion and revival in the late twentieth century. In particular, 12 old prints are presented: "Gospel" of the XVII century, "Minea", "Irmologion" and others.

The museum functions as a subdivision of the State Historical and Architectural Reserve in the city of Berezhany. In addition, the Berezhany Museum of Local Lore, the Berezhany Books Museum, and the Bohdan Lepky Museum are located in the premises of the Berezhany City Hall.