Attractions of Khmelnytskyi region

Horodok Museum of Local Lore, founded in 1969, after a complete reconstruction in 2016-2021, became a modern cultural and educational hub and was named Horodok Museum or G-Museum.

On the first floor there is a branch of the Museum of Internal Affairs, on the second - an exposition on the history of Horodochchyna, on the third - a large hall for exhibitions of contemporary artists, on the fourth - a laboratory and a hall with a panorama of the city.

The concept of the museum exposition is based on the figure of the famous scientist-microbiologist, author of fundamental discoveries in natural science of the late XIX - early XX centuries Serhiy Vynohradsky, who was the last landowner of Horodok. Reconstruction of the interior of the study of a scientist and a modern scientific laboratory is presented.

Also in the exhibition you can see the diorama "Sarmatian Sea", learn about the geology and nature of Podolian Tovtry, see a collection of unique objects of Trypillya culture, trace the development of Horodok from XIV to XX century in historical materials, documents, photographs.

Part of the exhibition is an audiovisual installation.

Remains of the ancient Bakota Saint Michael Rock-Cave Monastery, known since 1362, are located on the steep slope of Bila Mountain above the Bakota Bay of the Dniester. Limestone mountain rises 120 meters above the river. This is one of the most popular tourist sites of the National Nature Park "Podilskyi Tovtry".

During the study of the preserved cells and the rock monastery church, an inscription, probably from the 11th century, was discovered, which mentions the founding of the monastery by Abbot Hryhoriy in honor of Saint Michael. It is considered the oldest on the territory of Podillya. It was a part of the great ancient Rus city of Bakota, which is mentioned in the XI-XIII centuries as the most important political and administrative center of the Dniester Ponyzzia, then Podillya, which was part of the Galicia-Volyn principality.

According to legend, during the invasion of the Tatar horde, the monks who hid in the caves, refusing to renounce their faith, were stoned alive.

The revival of the monastery in the 14th century was facilitated by the Lithuanian princes Koriatovychi (Koryatovychi), however, after the uprising of 1431, Bakota lost the status of a city, and soon the mention of the monastery disappeared from the annals.

The settlement of Bakota existed until 1981, when it was completely flooded with water during the construction of the Novodnistrovskaya HPP. The collapse of White Mountain in 1996 destroyed most of the caves with ancient Russian frescoes. The few ruins of Saint Michael's Church and the remains of caves can be seen only in one place on the mountainside.

A breathtaking panorama of the Dniester opens from here.

Every year on Makovey (August 14) in the revived Bakota Michael Cave Church, festive services are held with a large number of people.

The main City Gate is one of the key elements of the defense system of the Old City of Kamyanets-Podilskyi.

It belongs to the oldest defensive structures of the city. The gate closed the entrance to Kamyanets through the Turkish Bridge from the Old Fortress.

The City Gate complex was rebuilt in 1746 by the military engineer Christian Dahlke. The entrance to the city was carried out through the Gate Tower, in the premises of which there is now a small cafe. The current passage is cut in the defensive wall. On the opposite side, there is a casemate-laboratory for testing gunpowder, which was produced at gunpowder mills on the Smotrych River. Currently, the laboratory complex houses the restaurant "Under the Gate".

A little above the gate is the Armenian bastion - a powerful hexagonal structure with large embrasures, built under the leadership of the military engineer Kamilus.

From the viewing platform above the laboratory, a classic view of the Old Fortress opens.

The unique Holy Intercession Church-Fortress in Sutkivtsi is a vivid example of a medieval defense-type temple. It was built in the 14th century as a purely defensive structure on the Kuchman route - one of the routes of Tatar raids. The architecture is reminiscent of Western European Gothic castles.

After Fedir Sutkivetskyi (Sutkivskyi), the owner of these lands, started building a new castle in the 15th century, the old one was rebuilt into the Church of the Intercession of the Holy Virgin. One of the bells shows the date of reconstruction - 1476.

The building is two-story: the temple was located on the first floor, and the battle passages and loopholes on the second. The middle part of the temple was covered with a high Gothic gable roof with a Baroque tower, and a tall wooden belfry rose on the front facade.

Perebudlva at the beginning of the 20th century gave the Church of the Intercession Russian Orthodox forms. In the 2000s, restoration was carried out to restore the original appearance of the temple.

For a long time, the Church of the Intercession belonged to the UOC MP, but in 2024 the church was returned to the state property, services were held in the Ukrainian language.  

The two-tiered grotto in the 18-meter rock in the park of the Orlovsky estate in Maliivtsi bears the name of the legendary folk hero Ustym Karmalyuk - Karmalyuk Caves. According to legend, Karmalyuk hid in these caves from persecution by the royal authorities.

In early Slavic times, according to scientists, there was a pagan sanctuary in the caves. Later, an Orthodox monastery was founded in its place. In 1708, the Podol judge Vavrzhynets Peplovsky revived the cave monastery, which had already fallen into disrepair, as a Greek-Catholic monastery, inviting the Basilian fathers. The upper cave was named after the Nativity of John the Baptist, the lower one - Saint Onuphrius. An artificial waterfall was built above the caves.

In 1810, the monastery was closed, and in Soviet times, the church located on the upper platform was dismantled.

The Kytaihorod outcrop is one of the most complete sections of Silurian and Devonian sediments in the world, an international geological standard for outcrops of the third and fourth periods of the Paleozoic era.

Exfoliation begins on the left bank of the Ternava River and covers the entire hillside on the outskirts of the village of Kytaihorod. The area is equal to 60 hectares. It is located on the southwestern outskirts of the village of Kytaihorod, Kamyanets-Podilskyi district.

Nearby is the Kytaihorod forest - a botanical reserve of local importance. Rare species of orchid species are valuable.

The old fortress of Kamyanets-Podilskyi is one of the most outstanding monuments of fortification art of Ukraine.

It is a part of Kamyanets-Podilskyi State Historical Museum-Reserve.

Nowadays, the name "Old Castle" is most often used, although formally this fortress was a castle (residence of the feudal lord) only at the very beginning of its existence, under the princes Koriatovych (Koryatovych).

A powerful defensive junction at the entrance to the city on the main road across the bridge over the narrow isthmus of Smotrych Canyon was built in the XVI century. on the basis of ancient n fortifications of the XI-XII centuries. The old fortress consists of 11 towers: Papska (Karmalyukova), Kovpak, Tenchinska, Lyaska (Billa), Denna, New (Velyka) Western, Small Western, Rozhanka, Komendantska, Lyantskoronska Tower, New Eastern. The towers are connected by defensive walls, barracks and a siege well are located on the territory. The oldest of the towers - Denna (possibly built on the foundations of Roman fortifications).

In the XVII century. the earthen bastions of the New Fortress were added, which withstood the artillery fire more effectively. The strength of the Kamianets fortifications impressed contemporaries. The phrase of the Turkish khan Osman became winged, who in 1621 approached the walls of the fortress and asked who had strengthened it so much. "God himself," replied the khan. "Then may God take her," Osman replied, withdrawing his troops. However, in 1672 Kamianets-Podilskyi was captured by the Turkish army of Sultan Mohammed IV and the Cossacks of Petro Doroshenko.

In the western bastion of the fortress, the defense scene was reconstructed, which was led by Mykolay Potocki and during which Yuriy Volodievskyi died. People's hero Ustym Karmalyuk escaped from prison three times from the Old Fortress. The papal tower, in which he was kept, has been named after him ever since, and an exposition has been arranged in it. An exposition of light metal weapons is located in the eastern bastion.

Night excursions are conducted. The old fortress is often the scenery of numerous festivals and historical reconstructions.

The Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Krasyliv was founded in 1820 at the expense of Colonel Mykola Sapyeha. Decorated at the expense of Kostyantyn Chorba.

The temple was built in a classical style, its facade was decorated with semi-columns.

In 1921, the last rector of the parish, Father Kazymyr Mazur, was shot by the Bolsheviks in front of the church.

During the Soviet period, the shrine was closed (except for a few years during the Second World War), the building first housed a warehouse, then the House of Pioneers.

In 1990, the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Krasyliv was transferred to the monastery of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchins.

In the square in front of the church there is a memorial to those who died during the Second World War.

The Ruska Gate (Ruska Brama) is a unique hydrotechnical fortification structure of Kamyanets-Podilskyi, which, together with the Polish Gate, formed a system for flooding the canyon of the Smotrych River in case of danger.

Construction began around 1527. The ensemble of the Ruska Gate consisted of 8 towers, a barbican and defensive walls connecting them, 230 meters long, which completely crossed a canyon 90 meters wide. There were sluices in the wall at the crossing of the river bed.

In the 16th and 17th centuries, as a result of frequent floods, the coastal fortifications of the Ruska Gate began to collapse, and by the end of the 17th and the beginning of the 18th centuries, four towers collapsed. The Clock Tower, Nadbramna, Pryvorotna, Pryberezhna towers and the Barbican have been preserved.

Currently, the restoration has been carried out. Part of the premises of the Ruska Gate is used as a creative workshop of potters, and the creation of a cultural and craft center is planned.

The picturesque Starokostiantyniv Castle at the confluence of the Ikopot River with the Sluch was built in 1561 by Volyn Prince Vasyl-Kostyantyn Ostrozky to protect the region from the Tatars (the "Black Path" of Tatar raids passed here).

For some time, the castle served as the main princely residence of Ostrozky. Since 1575, the castle has never been attacked. In particular, in 1618, he withstood the siege of the 30,000-strong Tatar horde.

The castle was surrounded by a defensive rampart, it was separated from the land by a moat connecting the channels of two rivers. The walls were fortified with five towers designed in the Renaissance style. There was an eight-story wooden watchtower-pyramid on the territory.

The semicircular donjon tower, the princely palace, the house church, the lower tier of the gate tower, and fragments of the walls have been preserved. Under the palace there are cellars with wells-chambers leading to the river.

The castle church of the Holy Trinity, which performed defensive functions, has been restored (belongs to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine). Part of the frescoes of the 16th century have been preserved inside, in particular the original coat of arms of Prince Vasyl-Kostyantyn Ostrozky: an eight-pointed star surrounded by a crescent moon.

Archaeological excavations and restoration work are underway on the rest of the complex.

The historical and cultural center-museum "Old Kostiantyniv" was created on the basis of the castle of Princes Ostrozky. Excursions are conducted, additional services can be ordered.

The building of the Polish magistrate was built in the center of Kamyanets-Podilskyi after the city was granted the Magdeburg right in 1374.

Kamyanets-Podilskyi Town Hall is considered to be the oldest in Ukraine. This is the main civil structure of the Old Town. It consists of a two-story council building and an eight-story clock tower. Initially, the building was Gothic, but later it was layered with different architectural styles.

The museum "Court of Medieval Kamyanets" with an exposition of instruments of torture was opened in the cleared part of the multi-level basements. On the ground floor there is an inexpensive cafe "Town Hall".

The Museum of the History of Magdeburg Law and the Museum of Money are located on the second floor.

Sutkivtsi Castle today is the only surviving defensive tower of the fortified residence of the Sutkivetskyi family.

The construction of a regular tower castle was started by Fedir Sutkivetskyi in the 15th century on the basis of a 14th century fortification fortified with a stone wall. It became the main point of the southern defense line on the Kuchman road - one of the roads of the Tatar invasion.

The castle, rectangular in plan, had 4 corner towers, the entrance was made through a gate tower, from which a drawbridge was thrown over the moat. In 1567, the building was badly damaged during one of the Tatar assaults. In 1623, the new owner Oleksandr Balaban carried out reconstruction, but by the end of the 17th century, the castle lost its defensive significance and began to gradually collapse.

The pentagonal eastern tower, fragments of walls and ramparts have been preserved to this day. Restoration and creation of a historical and cultural reserve is planned. Access is free.

Starokostiantyniv Museum of Local History presents an exposition dedicated to all stages of the city's development.

The museum is located in a two-story building of the XIX century, which until 1917 housed the gendarmerie, then Starokostiantyniv Revolutionary Committee, the headquarters of the Bohunsky Regiment of the First Ukrainian Red Division and other bodies.

The exposition presents more than 5 thousand exhibits.

Botanical reserve "Tovtra Verbetska" is located 15 kilometers north of Kamyanets-Podilskyi, west of the village of Verbka.

The status of a national botanical reserve was assigned to this territory in 1977. The area of ​​the reserve is 9.3 hectares.

Rare types of steppe vegetation have been preserved within the reserve, including: spring adonis, Volyn milkweed, big dream, hairy heifer, and Dniester hazel.

Local residents nicknamed this mountain "Four Cavaliers" due to its appearance.

On the site of the ancient Podillya village of Sokilets, there were two ancient Rus fortresses back in the 13th century.

In 1973, the village was included in the list of settlements that were subject to flooding in connection with the commissioning of the Dniester HPP. This is exactly what happened to the villages of Bakota, Kalyus and others. Local residents were urgently relocated to the heights of the Ushytsky Canyon. However, the level of rising water turned out to be significantly lower than the erroneous calculation of engineers. In this way, it was possible to preserve the historical part of the village.

Among the ruins are the remains of the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin (1723), the remains of an ancient cave monastery, a part of the ancient defensive wall of the 18th century, a settlement of the 12th-13th centuries, an old village cemetery, a burial mound of the 12th-13th centuries, and the only active object - the Orthodox Church of the Intercession of the Holy Mother of God (1840).

From the territory of modern Sokilets, a wonderful view of the abandoned valley of the village opens.