Attractions of Rivne district

The Amber Museum was opened in Rivne on the basis of the Rivne amber factory - the state enterprise "Amber of Ukraine".

The museum is located in the premises of the Rivne House of Scientists - a two-story mansion of the beginning of the 20th century in the Art Nouveau style.

Among the exhibits of the museum are pieces of amber up to 40 million years old, found at different times in the Rivne region, as well as jewelry and works of art made from it. In particular, the oldest amber product in Ukraine is exhibited - a disk-amulet approximately 2.5 thousand years old.

Stones in which ancient insects have crystallized are considered to be the decoration of the museum. A piece of wild amber weighing about 2 kilograms is presented.

The exhibits tell not only about the history of amber mining in the region, but also about the only enterprise in Ukraine that is engaged in its processing.

The Ulas Samchuk Museum is located in the same building.

The Roman Catholic Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary arose in Ostroh as a result of the development of the Orthodox Church, founded in the 15th century by Prince Fedir Ostrozky.

In 1442, the church was transformed into the church of the Dominican monastery. In those days, it was the main Catholic church in Ostroh, which had a large parish. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the church was repeatedly rebuilt and decorated with magnificent baroque altars.

In 1897, after a big fire, the church was rebuilt again at the expense of Roman Sangushko, this time in the classicist style with the construction of a bathhouse.

After the deportation of Poles by the Soviet authorities, the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary was emptied and closed; services were resumed recently.

The Lutsk Tower in Ostroh was a key defensive element of the lower city, also serving as the entrance gate to Lutsk. This is one of the two surviving towers of the outer city fortifications.

Currently, the room is adapted for the exposition of the Book and Printing Museum (in 1580 Ivan Fedorov created a printing house in Ostroh, which published the first "Reading Book" and the first complete Slavic Ostroh Bible). There are also temporary exhibitions.

Cultural and archaeological complex "Peresopnytsia" is a three-level constructivist building that resembles a temple.

Here is the Museum of the First Book, dedicated to the history of the creation of the Peresopnytsia Gospel, as well as a conference hall and rooms for archaeologists.

In particular, the exhibition presents a 9-kilogram facsimile copy of the Peresopnytsia Gospel and a model of the ancient Rus settlement of Peresopnytsia.

Nearby is the open-air museum complex "Prince's town": a reconstruction of a residential estate and fortifications of the 12th-13th centuries, when Peresopnytsia was the capital of a separate principality.

There is a permanent archaeological expedition in the village, which students and even tourists can join. The found rarities will complement the exposition of the First Book Museum.

The "Peresopnytsia Gospel" museum is partially adapted for people with disabilities: parking, mnemonic scheme, ramp.

The wooden Church of the Assumption is the oldest building in Rivne. The temple in the Tyutkivskyi suburb was built in 1756 at the expense of the parishioners. The church is single-domed, the iconostasis was completed in 1784.

According to legend, Ivan Honta, the leader of the Haidamac movement, prayed in the Assumption Church before the battle with the Polish nobility.

The belfry and the "chain of moral foundations" to which ungodly parishioners were chained in the 18th century for public atonement have been preserved.

The ruins of Korets Castle with a distinctive tower over the gate of red brick are the hallmark of the city.

The first wooden fortification was built in the 15th century above the Korchyk river by Prince Ostrozky. Later, the castle passed into the possession of Volyn Voivode Bohdan Koretskyi, who strengthened it with stone walls with towers and bastions, surrounded by an earthen rampart and a moat filled with water from the river.

In the 18th century, the fortress buildings became the basis for the construction of the palace complex of the Chartoryskyi princes. In 1832, the palace burned down and has not been rebuilt since then.

The three-level gate tower, the adjacent ruins of the outer walls of the palace buildings, and the three-pylon four-arch bridge (reconstructed in recent years) have been preserved.

The estate of the Lenkevychi-Valevsky landowners in Hoshcha is an outstanding monument of palatial modernism in the residential architecture of Volyn in the 19th century, the embodiment of modernist aesthetics in Volyn garden and park construction. The palace is an architectural monument of local importance.

At the end of the 18th century, Stanislav Kostka Lenkevych of the Lenkevych-Ipochorskyi family, to whom Hoshcha had belonged since the beginning of the 18th century, founded the Hoshcha estate with an English-style park and a one-story wooden house. In 1852 the estate became the property of Oktaviya Lenkevych, who married Count Mikhal Valevsky. Around this time, the current palace was built in the style of a Swiss chalet - an alpine house with half-timbered facades, an attic floor, a decorative tower and a balcony over a porch in Art Nouveau style. The last owners were the Russian landowners Isakov.

In Soviet times, the palace was greatly modified by adding a second floor, completing the second wing instead of a decorative tower and partially covering the facades with ceramic tiles, but the main facade remained close to the original. For a long time the building was used as a district library.

In 2017, the Lenkevych-Valevsky estate was transferred to the balance of the Hoscha village council, and restoration work began. Now the exposition of the Hoshcha Historical and Ethnographic Museum "Pohoryna" is unfolding here.

Hoshcha Park with an area of ​​7 hectares is a monument of landscape art of national importance. Among its greenery you can find a relict ginkgo tree, which is also called the "dinosaur tree". Also growing are marsh oak with a pyramidal crown, Schwedler's red-leaved maple, Weymouth pine with small silky needles and long narrow cones, Japanese sophora, which resembles white acacia but has no thorns.

The museum and entertainment complex "Mysterious Rivne Dungeons" opened in 2021 in the Rivne Park of Culture and Recreation named after Taras Shevchenko. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the estate of Prince Frederik Lubomyrsky "On the Hill" was located here.

The Lyubomirskyi Palace was destroyed during the Second World War, in the post-war years its remains were demolished during the arrangement of the park, but elements of the basement part of the building were preserved under the "Bogatyr" fountain. They became the basis for the interactive museum exposition "Mysterious Rivne Dungeons". Its project was developed by the outstanding Ukrainian monumentalist artist Anatoliy Haydamaka.

The exhibition complex consists of an upper observation deck and an underground part. From above, fragments of archaeological excavations on the territory of the manor are available for inspection through glass circles, with an illuminated display of samples of weapons found during research.

In the underground part, you can see cleared corridors and rooms with an exposition about the history of the city of Rivne, the palace complex "On the Hill" and the family of the Lubomyrsky princes.

Visitors are offered classic tours, virtual tours using multimedia technologies, as well as an interactive game in the quest room.

Ostroh Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy is the first higher educational institution in Ukraine and Eastern Europe.

It was founded in 1576 by Prince Vasyl-Kostyantyn Ostrozky and Princess Halshka Ostrozka (a memorial sign has been erected in Shevchenko Park next to the castle where the academy was originally located). The first printer Ivan Fedorov opened a printing house there in 1580, where the first "Bukvar" and the famous "Ostroh Bible" were published.

The first rector of the academy was Herasym Smotrytsky. Among the graduates are Hetman Petro Sahaydachny, the Nalyvayko brothers and others.

In 1624, after the founding of the Jesuit College in Ostroh, funding for the academy ceased, and in 1636 it was disbanded. Revived in 1994 as a state university. Today it occupies the premises of the former Capuchin monastery with the Trinity Church (1778, architects Paolo Fontana).

Simultaneously with the revival of the educational institution, the Center for the Study of the Heritage of the Ostroh Academy was established and the collection of materials for the creation of an exposition began, which was the beginning of the creation of the Museum of the History of the Ostroh Academy. Currently, the museum complex includes 6 exposition sections.

The iconographic collection of the museum is located in the restored university church. The collection is based on samples of Ukrainian and European iconography of the 18th-19th centuries, as well as works by the famous modern painter Yuri Nikitin and graduates of the National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture. The icons, being exhibits of the academy museum, are also part of the interior of the temple.

During 1998-1999, the dungeons located under the temple and used as crypts (burial places) during the period of the monastery's operation were cleared. The interior of the crypts was recreated, the premises were museumified, and the dungeons became part of the museum complex.

In 2000, an exhibition of the history of the premises in which the modern Ostroh Academy operates was formed in the old monastery building (the former building of cells of the 18th century). The central exhibit of this hall was the discovered and restored monastery well.

During 2005-2014, an exhibition of old prints and rare books was formed in the museum. Since 2014, the collection has been located in the student and teaching church. It presents publications of the largest Ukrainian printing houses of the 16th-18th centuries (Lviv, Kyiv, Pochaiv), as well as rare books of the 19th - early 20th centuries.

The museum's art collection has been formed since 1997. These are mainly paintings by modern Ukrainian artists, as well as sculptures, artistic textiles and glass. Most of the paintings are presented in thematic collections and are exhibited in the corridors of the central building of the National University "Ostroh Academy".

Since 2009, the most dynamic exhibition unit of the museum has been operating – the underground art gallery, located in the basement of the former 18th-century Capuchin monastery.

A separate exhibition unit of the museum is the private ethnographic collection and a collection of rare books of the famous Ukrainian scientist, academician Mykola Zhulynsky.

The Ostroh Castle on the mountain above the Viliya River is the former residence of the powerful Ostrozky princes, who in the 14th and 17th centuries owned large lands in Volyn.

Prince Danylo - the first precisely known prince from the Ostrozky dynasty - began to build fortifications on the site of an ancient Rus settlement. His descendants expanded and strengthened their capital for two centuries, which flourished at the beginning of the 16th century under Prince Kostyantyn Ostrozky.

The story of the "black princess" Halshka Ostrozka, who after the death of Illya Ostrozky father, inherited all his fortune is connected with the castle. Real tycoon wars broke out over her hand, she was forced to marry twice, but her uncle Vasyl-Kostyantyn managed to preserve the possessions of the Ostrozky family. Subsequently, he became famous as an educator and defender of Orthodoxy.

The oldest building of Ostroh Castle is the Watch Tower or "Brick Tower" (XIV century), in which the exposition of the local history museum was opened as early as 1916. The main exhibit is the famous Ostroh Bible, published in 1681 by the first printer Ivan Fedorov. A collection of unique Volyn "smiling icons" is on display. A model of the medieval Ostroh is presented. Also preserved is the Round (New) tower (XVI century) with a Renaissance crown of dentils, from the foot of which you can see the domes of the monastery in Mezhirich.

The ancient Epiphany Cathedral (year 1453) is located on the territory of the castle, the silhouette of which was the coat of arms of the city. Under the Catholics, the church was partially destroyed, one wall with loopholes was included in the fortification system of the castle. At the end of the 19th century, the cathedral was reconstructed in the pseudo-Byzantine style according to the project of the architect Basilevsky, and the baths received a characteristic gilding. In 1905, the Nadbram bell tower was built. The temple is active, belongs to the UOC MP.

Since 1981, Ostroh Castle, together with the ensemble of other architectural monuments of the city and its surroundings, has been part of the State Historical and Cultural Reserve of Ostroh. In recent years, a number of accessibility programs have been implemented here. In particular, the reserve implemented the project "Inclusive Museum in Ostroh Castle". Now visually impaired visitors have access to tactile pointers and diagrams, 3D models of some exhibits (in particular, a tactile model of the castle of the Princes Ostrozky), an audio guide with tiflocommentary, a guide for the blind, as well as a guide with adapted text for people with hearing impairments. The site of the reserve is adapted for people with disabilities.

The earth ramparts of the castle of Prince Bohush Koretskyi, built in the 16th century, are located on Prince's Mountain (Knyazha Hora) in Marynyn.

The wooden buildings of the castle have not been preserved, the former castle bypass now has gardens.

The castle offers a unique panorama of the Sluch valley with rocky rapids, rocky canyons, steep cliffs and a sea of ​​greenery.

The Rivne Regional Museum of Local Lore is located in the building of the former male gymnasium, built in Rivne in the classicism style in 1839 on the initiative of Prince Frederik Lubomyrskyi.

Mykola Kostomarov, a Ukrainian historian, taught here, and Volodymyr Korolenko, a humanist writer, studied here. During the Second World War, the building served as the Reich Commissariat of Ukraine, next to it was the bunker of General Erik Kokh (preserved).

Since 1975, the premises have been occupied by the Museum of Local Lore, organized in Rivne in 1906. The museum collection includes over 300,000 exhibits, including archaeological finds, an ethnographic exhibition, a numismatic collection, objects from the Cossack era, and icons. An exhibition of military equipment is located in the museum's park.

Charming in its provincialism, the Rivne Zoo is located on a relief park area of 4.7 hectares at the entrance to Rivne from the Kyiv side.

The zoo is home to almost 700 animals of 200 species. Lions and other big cats, bears, monkeys, even-toed animals, and birds are represented. The Far Eastern leopard Bagheera, of rare black color, is very popular among visitors to the Rivne Zoo.

It is allowed to feed and hold domestic animals in the "Grandma's Yard" aviary. Exotarium works. There is a riding school.

Saint Anthony's Church is the oldest church in the city of Korets. Founded by Prince Karol Koretsky in 1533 (according to other sources - in 1633), named after Saint Anthony of Padua.

In 1706, a new stone church in the Baroque style was built on the site of the wooden church. During the reconstruction in 1916, an additional nave was added.

During the Soviet rule, a chemical warehouse was located here.

In 1990, the church was returned to the Catholic community of Korets, consecrated in 1904 as the church of Saint Anthony.

Fragments of wall paintings have been preserved, and restoration has been carried out.

The former parish church of Saint Anthony in the neo-Gothic style with a beautiful clock on the facade was built in Rivne according to the project of Konstantiy Voytsekhovskyi at the expense of Roman Sanhushko on the site of an early church.

Consecrated in 1900. Originally, the house was crowned with two spiers, decorated with frescoes and stained glass windows.

Since Soviet times, the Church of Saint Anthony has been used as the House of Chamber and Organ Music of the Rivne Regional Philharmonic.