Attractions of Sheptytskyi district

The Jewish prayer house of the "Ishre Lev" society on the southeastern edge of the Rynok Square in Belz attracts attention with its expressive architecture with a wooden bay window, completed by an oriental-style bulbous bathhouse.

The building was built on the corner of the former Torhova and Kushnirska streets in 1909 at the expense of an influential Belz resident Faivel Taube. It was he who founded the Society for the Support of the Sick and the Poor in Belz, which was called "Ishre Lev".

The "Ishre Lev" prayer house got its modern appearance as a result of reconstruction caused by damage during the First World War. Restored at the expense of the Rokakh family.

The Arian Tower in Belz, also known as the Snopkovsky Chapel, is the oldest surviving architectural monument in the city. It was built in 1606, as evidenced by a stone tablet with the Ravych coat of arms on the facade.

A low brick hexagonal structure is located on the old cemetery at the entrance to the center of Belz. According to one of the versions, it was built by the Belz trumpeter Andriy Snopkovsky as a burial chapel. A large basement with a separate entrance, covered by a barrel vault, is obviously the burial crypt of the Snopkovsky family. It is possible that the structure could also perform defensive functions as part of the city fortifications.

The unusual architecture of the chapel is explained by the fact that its founder could have been a supporter of Arianism - one of the currents of early Christianity, which was revived in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 16th and 17th centuries in the form of Socinianism. Hence the common name - Arian tower.

From the beginning of the 19th century, the building was used as a flour and salt warehouse. It is now partially restored. It is one of the objects of the State Historical and Cultural Reserve in the city of Belz.

The Church of the Assumption of the Holy Virgin in the city of Uhniv was built in 1695 at the expense of Khrystofor Dunin. The huge baroque church was designed by the architect Voytsekh Lenartovych.

During Soviet times, the Assumption Church building was used as a warehouse, but the church has been well preserved.

The monastery of the Catholic Dominican order in Belz was founded in 1394 on the initiative of Prince Zemovyt IV of Belz and Polotsk, but its first wooden buildings have not survived to our time.

The modern complex of the monastery of the Dominican fathers began to be built in the middle of the 16th century. The central building was the Dominican church, built as a three-nave basilica with a transept and an elongated circular altar. The walls were reinforced with buttresses. During its existence, the building underwent reconstructions, the largest of which occurred at the beginning of the 18th century. At that time, a two-story monastery bell tower was erected, which has survived to our time. The church itself was destroyed during the Second World War and has reached our days in the form of ruins.

The northern cell block with a four-tiered bell tower in the Baroque style has also been preserved, which now serves as the city hall. The Museum of History and Local Lore is also located there.

The People's Exemplary Ethnology Museum in Byshiv, Lviv Region, was founded in 1991 at the Byshiv Secondary School. It was created on the initiative of the former director of the school, a researcher of historical and cultural monuments, Volodymyr Koval.

The exposition in five halls tells about the history of Byshiv and neighboring villages, introduces the culture and crafts of the region. Museum funds contain more than 3,000 exhibits.

In the first hall, ancient icons of the 19th and 20th centuries are exhibited. The historical exposition contains documents and old maps of the villages of Byshiv, Zabava, Ordiv and Torky, a collection of old clocks and a large school bell. The tools of weavers, carpenters, coopers, etc. tell about the ancient crafts of the Galician peasantry. A unique attraction is a wooden beehive-log from the 17th century.

In the "Galician Peasant's House" hall, the interior of a donkey is recreated with a stove, ancient pots and plates, and a large wooden chest. The exhibition "From Grandmother's Chest" presents a collection of embroidered women's shirts and suits, spare parts, skirts, towels, shawls.

In the "Weaving shop" exhibition, visitors are offered master classes on working looms.

The Manor Museum of Father Markiyan Shashkevych in the village of Nestanychi was opened in 2011 for the 200th anniversary of the birth of this famous Ukrainian writer, poet, priest, social and cultural figure, head of the "Ruthenian Triad" (Ruska Triytsia) society.

From 1938 to 1941, Markiyan Shashkevych was the parish priest of the village Greek Catholic Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin in the village of Nestanychi. The museum is located in the adjacent presbytery, built in 1913. The project of reconstruction of the building was developed by the famous artist Orest Skop.

The main exposition of the museum is formed from the funds of the Lviv State Historical Archive, the libraries named after Stefanyk and Drahomanov, the Lviv Museum-Reserve "Rusalka Dnistrova". In one of the rooms, things related to Shashkevych's stay in Nestanychi, collected by the villagers, are exhibited.

The greatest pride of the museum is the unique examples of Galician sacral painting - icons of folk masters dating from the end of the 17th - beginning of the 18th centuries.

The State Historical and Cultural Reserve in Belz Town unites a complex of architectural monuments in the city center, a castle of the princely era, churches of various denominations, Christian and Jewish cemeteries.

The main object of the reserve is the Historical and Local Lore Museum, located in the premises of the town hall. Since the original town hall on the market square was destroyed during the Second World War, the 17th-century Dominican monastery cell building with a four-tiered baroque clock tower has been adapted for the magistrate. In 2004, the only surviving wall paintings of the monastery were found on the third tier of the tower.

The museum collection reflects the history and culture of the ancient population of Belz. In particular, the archaeological department presents materials from annual archaeological excavations, the most interesting of which are an arrowhead of the 1st millennium BC and an encolpion cross of the 11th century.

The collection of ancient men's and women's clothing, embroideries and household items related to weaving and embroidery form the basis of the Department of Folk Art and Ethnography of Belz region. The culture of the town's Jewish community is told by the ancient Torah, the clothing of the Belz Hasids, and old photographs.

Among the sacred monuments, the most valuable is the wooden sculpture of the Apostle Peter from the Church of Saint Paraskeva, dated to the end of the 16th - beginning of the 17th century.

The Uhniv Historical and Local Lore Museum was opened in 2006 at the Uhniv Agrarian and Construction Lyceum on the initiative of teacher Halyna Hubenya.

The exposition of the museum gives an opportunity to get acquainted with the history of the city, everyday life, traditions and legends, to get acquainted with notable people who were born and lived in the city of Uhniv.

All exhibits are authentic and unique: Uhniv clothing, images, millstones, household items of Uhniv residents, historical documents. In particular, the famous "Uhnivtsi" boots, in which Ivan Franko used to come to the city, are presented.

The Church of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Lopatyn was built in 1772 at the expense of Adam Kholonevsky based on one of the projects previously developed by the Lviv architect Bernard Meretyn.

Before that, there was a wooden church in Lopatyn. The new Catholic church - a replica of the Church of the Holy Cross in Berezdivtsi - was built in a magnificent baroque style and decorated with rich frescoes by Stanislav Stroyinskyi. The consecration took place in 1828.

After the Second World War, the shrine was closed, and the icon of the Mother of God of Lopatyn, which was kept in the church, was taken to Poland.

Today, the Church of the Virgin Mary has been returned to the faithful and restored at the expense of the Polish public.

The Lyantskoronsky Palace was built in Tartakiv in the 19th century on the site of the Potocki Castle, founded in the 18th century by the Polish magnate Feliks Kazymyr Potocki. Fragments of ramparts and walls from the southwest side of the old defensive castle have been preserved.

A new palace in the French neo-baroque style was built in Tartakiv by Zbihnev Lyantskoronsky. It is believed that the model for the architectural project of the Tartakiv Palace was the Casino de Paris (Casino de Paris) in Monaco. The two-story palace with a risalite and a balcony has a side tower. An L-shaped utility building is attached to the house from the south.

In Soviet times, a school was located in the Lyantskoronsky Palace. In 2010, the architectural monument was handed over to a private investor under the condition of restoration and creation of a tourist center.

The "Native Village Museum" was created in the village of Synkiv on July 18, 1999, on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the first written mention of the village. The museum is located on the first floor of the Synkiv Lyceum.

The exposition of the museum includes more than 1000 exhibits and presents a collection of ancient icons, books, money, Ukrainian towels, clothes and relics. Of great interest are copies and originals of documents, church metric publications, as well as the layout of the village on the map of 1844, which is a great value of the museum.

The exposition of the museum consists of sections: "From the depths of the ages", "Under the rule of Austria-Hungary and Poland", "Map of the lands of the village of Sinkiv (1844)", "Church of the Intercession of the Holy Virgin", "From the history of the development of the school", "The village in 20th century".

The museum is constantly replenished with new exhibits and materials, among which the most interesting are the "Chronicle of the School" and an album of excursions.

The Church of the Nativity of the Holy Virgin Mary was founded in Uhniv in 1780 (according to other sources, in 1797) on the site of an old wooden church known since 1500.

The temple remained unfinished for a long time. In 1855-1857, the merchant Stepan Zhukovsky reconstructed the church at his own expense. Building materials were the remains of dismantled city fortifications.

The Uhniv Church of the Nativity of the Holy Virgin was considered one of the most beautiful in Galicia. In 1936, the interior was painted by artist Demyan Hornyatkevych. Along with the saints, historical figures were depicted: King Danylo Romanovych, Hetman Ivan Mazepa, Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytskyi, poet Taras Shevchenko and others, but during Soviet times these frescoes were whitewashed.

The Church of the Nativity of the Most Holy Virgin belongs to the parish of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.

The museum of the opera singer Oleksandr Myshuha was opened in the village of Novyi Vytkiv, where he was born in 1853.

The outstanding Ukrainian tenor won world recognition at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries, performing on the best stages of many European capitals: Paris, Rome, Vienna and others.

According to the will, in 1922 he was buried in his native village.

The Myshuha Museum was opened in the People's House of Novyi Vytkiv. The exposition tells about his life and work, about his relations with outstanding contemporaries - Ivan Franko, Mykola Lysenko, Solomiya Krushelnytska, Modest Mentsynskyi. Visitors can listen to a tape recording of Myshuha.

The People's History and Local History Museum of the Dobrotvir urban-type village and surrounding villages bears the name of its founder, local historian, artist and collector Yosyf Brykaylo. It was he who assembled the museum exhibit, which opened to visitors in 1995.

The museum's collection includes about three thousand monuments of Nadbuzhanshchyna. It presents the reconstruction of dwellings and tools of primitive people, fragments of ceramics from different periods, weapons of princely times, household items and samples of handicrafts of local residents of the XIX-XX centuries, historical documents and photographs, portraits of prominent personalities.

The Sheptytskyi branch of the Lviv Museum of the History of Religion is located in the Potocki Palace, which is an architectural monument of local significance.

Krystynopil Castle was built in the 18th century by French architect Pyer Riko de Tirredhelli for members of the powerful Polish landowner Potocki family. In its architecture, the building combines two styles: Baroque and Early Classicism.

The Potocki Palace had about 40 rooms, several salons, a large ballroom, a Chinese study and a library. The architectural complex also included kitchen buildings, breweries, distilleries, barracks, stables and other utility rooms. The current appearance of the palace has changed significantly due to numerous fires and alterations.

The Museum of Religion has been located there since 1990. The main exposition tells about the history of Krystynopil (Sheptytskyi) in the XVII-XIX centuries and its founders.

There is also a collection of embroideries and other clothes of the former Sokal County, antique household items, a model of the palace complex.

In the basement there are samples of bricks used during the construction of the palace.