Attractions of Bila Tserkva

The Roman Catholic Church of John the Baptist was built in Bila Tserkva in 1812-1813 by Count Ksaveriy Branytskyi on Castle Hill, where the nursery was located during the princely times.

According to one of the versions, an ancient church stood on this place, which gave the city its name. Branytskyi built the church in memory of his son Oleksandr, who died in childhood.

In the plan of the building lies the Latin cross, traditional for Catholic architecture, stretched on the east-west axis. The interior of the church is decorated with ornamental moldings with openwork rosettes complex in terms of plot and technique. The church is painted with monumental paintings by unknown masters. A white marble stele in memory of Kateryna Branitska-Sanhushko has been preserved on one of the walls.

In 1990, the organ of the Czech firm Rieger-Kloss was established. Today, the Church of John the Baptist is the Bila Tserkva city organ and chamber music hall with a 300-seat hall.

A monument to dead bikers was opened near the checkpoint at the entrance to Bila Tserkva from the Kyiv side in 2007.

The bronze sculpture of a flying motorcyclist (sculptor Anton Maslyk) is located at a height of 7 meters on a concrete support 11 meters high. The vertical support and outstretched arms of the motorcyclist form a cross. Another small cross is on top of the monument.

Funds for the creation of the monument were collected by the charity fund "Memory of the dead bikers".

The monument to Yaroslav the Wise in Bila Tserkva was erected in 1983 on the observation deck of Castle (Zamkova) Hill. In the 11th-13th centuries, the ancient Rus city of Yuryev, founded by Yaroslav in 1032, was located at this place.

Between the monument and the building of the Local Lore Museum are preserved remains of the foundation of the later Saint George's Church, which gave the city its current name.

In 2011, on the initiative of the Kostyantyn Yefimenko Charitable Foundation, the construction of a new church of Saint George, stylized according to ancient Russian architecture, began on the territory of Castle Hill, in connection with which the monument was moved a little to one side.

The "Oleksandria" State Dendrological Park of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine was established in 1793 by the crown hetman Frantsishek Ksaveriy Branytskyi and named after his wife Oleksandra.

Bila Tserkva Park was considered one of the best in Europe. The plan was developed by the French park developer Muffot. The park covers more than 200 hectares, has 25 reservoirs, and has 2,500 species of plants, including those from South America, China, and Japan: red oak, tulip tree, Kobus magnolia, Japanese rhododendron, and others.

The basis of the planning is the Great Lawn, from which a network of alleys, decorated with park architecture and sculptures, runs for 20 kilometers: "Romantic Ruins", "Chinese Bridge", "Lion" spring and others. The "Echo" colonnade has unique acoustics: a word spoken in a whisper at one end of the colonnade is heard at the opposite end. According to legend, Prince Potemkin-Tavriyskyi is buried under the Rotunda.

The summer palace of the Branytskys was destroyed during the Soviet period, but the "Ball Pavilion" has already been restored in its original form.

In the garden "Moor" (year 1816) with an area of 4 hectares, surrounded by a stone wall 3 meters high, more than 300 fruit and berry crops from all continents of the world are grown (excursions with tastings are held).

The highest point of the park is Paliy Mountain, on which a monument to Semen Paliy is erected.

The building of the "Economic Yard" now houses the directorate and Living Nature, Flora and Fauna Museum of the Park "Oleksandriya", which features marble park sculptures. You can buy seedlings here.

The Church of Saint George the Victorious on Zamkova Hill (Castle Hill) in Bila Tserkva was restored in 2013 at almost the same place where in 1032 Prince Yaroslav the Wise laid the foundation of the first church and the city of Yuryev.

According to legend, the white stone church that survived after the Mongol-Tatar invasion gave the city its current name. In Lithuanian-Polish times, a castle was built on the site of the child, and the church was dismantled. Its foundations were discovered in the 1980s by archaeologist Ruslan Orlov.

Restoration of the Church of Saint George was initiated in 2011 by the Charitable Foundation of Kostyantyn Yefimenko. The project was developed by the architect Vyacheslav Mishchenko, based on the plan of foundations discovered by archaeologists and the appearance of typical ancient Rus temples of the XI-XIII centuries. In the basements, it is planned to open a museum of Zamkova Hill with an exhibition of finds made during construction. The original, preserved foundations will be covered by a glass pavilion.

A monument to Yaroslav the Wise has been erected nearby.

The Church of Saint Equal-to-the-Apostles Mary Magdalene was built in the 18th century at the expense of Countess-patron Oleksandra Branytska (Enhelhardt), who vowed to build 12 Orthodox churches. It was the only temple built outside the historical center of Bila Tserkva - on Zarichchya.

The Church of Saint Mary Magdalene is built in the classical style, the bell tower is attached directly to it.

During the Soviet rule, it was one of the few functioning churches of the White Church. In 2001, the construction of the great monastery of Saint Mary Magdalene began.

The complex of shopping rows in Bila Tserkva was built at the beginning of the 19th century by Count Branytskyi.

Built in the style of early classicism, the enclosed guest courtyard faces the square with large arches with formal porticos along the axis of the four facades. Porticos played a large compositional role, closing the perspective of four mutually perpendicular streets, planned along the axes of the square Market Square. The originally designed shopping complex with an area of about 5,000 square meters was designed for 85 benches. The opening of shopping streets significantly stimulated trade in Bila Tserkva and contributed to the expansion of the Jewish community.

The old shopping rows is still used for its intended purpose - shops and cafes are located here. Various festivals and cultural events take place on the territory.

The Transfiguration Cathedral is the main Orthodox church of the Bila Tserkva, a vivid example of the transition in church architecture from baroque forms to classicism.

The Orthodox Cathedral was built in 1833-39 at the expense of Countess Oleksandra Branytska on the site of the dilapidated Mykilska Church, founded in 1706 by Hetman Ivan Mazepa. There was a belief in the city that the one who builds a new church on the site of Mykilska's Church will face inevitable death. The countess died in the year of completion of construction and was buried in the cathedral, built on her order.

The stone building has a height of 40 meters, but it looks rather squat. The dome, located above the central part, crowns a massive vault, which has a hemispherical shape. The walls are decorated with pilasters.

In 1930, the Transfiguration Cathedral was closed, in 1956 it was restored. Now the temple is active. There is a chapel nearby, which is a preserved fragment of Mykilska's Church.

In 2023, by decision of the city council of Bila Tserkva, the buildings of the Transfiguration Cathedral and the Mykilska Church were handed over to the Bila Tserkva Diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

The Branitsky Winter Palace served as the city residence of the count family in Bila Tserkva, while in the summer the Branitskys lived in a country palace on the territory of Oleksandriya Park.

The two-story building in the style of classicism was built at the end of the 18th century on the bank of the Ros River to the west of Castles Hill. The main facade is decorated with a four-column portico of the Ionic order.

Now the building of the former Winter Palace houses the Art School named after Yuriy Pavlenko. Almost no interiors have been preserved.

The complex of buildings of the postal station arose in Bila Tserkva in the 19th century, when a regular connection between Moscow and Odesa was established.

The premises of the post office (functioning as intended), the hotel (Taras Shevchenko stayed here), the inn, the carriage yard, the forge and the stables are made in a classical style, the architectural integrity and original layout of the complex has been preserved.

The Fellini restaurant is located in one of the premises.

The water mill on the Ros River in Bila Tserkva is currently not working. A complex of mill buildings and dams blocking the river has been preserved.

The mill offers a picturesque view of the Ros River and the Church of Saint Mary Magdalene.

Bila Tserkva Museum of Local Lore presents a large collection of objects of material and spiritual culture of the Southern Kyiv region.

The museum was founded in 1924 by local historian Stepan Drozdov-Myshkivskyш on the basis of his own collection of antiquities. The museum is now housed in an original constructivist building erected in 1983 on Castle Hill opposite the Church of Saint John the Baptist, near the foundations of the ancient Church of Saint George in the time of Prince Yaroslav the Wise.

The exposition consists of nine chapters that tell about the nature of Southern Kyiv, the ancient history of the region, the events of the Polish-Lithuanian era and the Cossacks, the heyday of the city in the XVIII-XIX centuries, the development of industry and education, the Soviet era and modernity.

Among the most valuable exhibits of the museum: the Scythian sword akinak, a unique Chernyakhiv lamp with the image of a human face, ancient Rus women's jewelry. Valuable relics of the Cossack times are the flag of the Cossack Hundred of the Bila Tserkva Regiment, a mace, a bunchuk, timpani and weapons. The basis of the collection of numismatics are Roman coins, Kyiv hryvnias, money of the Cossack era. The art department presents icons, paintings and sculptures of the XVII-XX centuries from the Branytsky collection. Visitors are especially interested in the recreated interiors of housing of different segments of the population at that time.

A modern reconstruction of the Church of Saint George, which gave the city its current name, was built on the Castle Hill of ancient Saint George near the Bila Tserkva Museum of Local Lore. A monument to the city's founder, Prince Yaroslav the Wise, has been erected on the observation deck above the Ros River.

The Choral (Central) Synagogue was built in the 19th century at the expense of the Jewish community of Bila Tserkva. The building is made in the eclectic style.

At the age of 16, the cantor Pinkhas Minkovsky began his career here, about whom Babel wrote in one of his stories about Benya Kryk: "Yosyp's funeral will be in the first order: six horses, like six lions, two chariots with wreaths, a choir from the Brody Synagogue, Minkovsky himself will come to mourn your late son."

During the Soviet era, the synagogue was closed, now the building belongs to the Technological and Economic College of the Bila Tserkva National Agrarian University.

The medieval park "Gyurgiv Fortress" was created in 2022 on an island in the middle of the river Ros in Bila Tserkva.

This is an entertainment complex based on a stylized wooden medieval fortress modeled on the architecture of Kyivan Rus. A wooden bridge across the strait of Ros is built to the fortress. The entrance gate with the gate tower leads to the territory surrounded by a fence with watchtowers. The territory is equipped with a stage, a melting pot, fair canopies, paved wooden paths.

The fortress hosts concerts, international and national competitions in medieval warfare, festivals of historical reconstruction and more.

The Museum of Electrical Communication in Bila Tserkva is located in the premises of the Ukrtelecom Telecommunications Center.

The exhibition tells about the history of communication and post. Devices used to transmit messages at different times, the first television, and more are presented.