Attractions of Ternopil region

The Church of Saint Stanislav in Kremenets was built in the 19th century at the expense of the parishioners after the Russian authorities took the Franciscan monastery from the Catholics and converted it into the Orthodox Cathedral of Saint Nicholas.

Saint Catherine's Church in St. Petersburg was taken as a model for the new Catholic church. In 1908, the church was decorated with Czech stained glass windows.

At the entrance to the church of Saint Stanislav, a highly artistic marble bowl with a bas-relief of the Mother of God, made in 1872 by the famous Volyn sculptor Viktor Brodzky, attracts attention. To the left of the entrance is a monument to Yuliush Slovatsky by the Polish sculptor Vatslav Shymanovsky.

An organ with 8 registers has been preserved.

The picturesque ruins of the Tvorovsky Castle adorn the high bank of the Strypa River in Pidzamochok near Buchach. This is one of the objects of the National Reserve "Castles of Ternopil Region".

The inscription above the main entrance tower indicates that the castle was built in 1600 by Voivode Yan Buchachsky-Tvorovskyi. The Renaissance portal of the building is decorated with a coat of arms with crossed arrows, the origin of which is unknown, since it does not correspond to the coat of arms "Abdank" of the Buchachsky family, nor to the coat of arms of the "Pylyava" family of the Potocki family, who owned the castle later (perhaps this is the ancient coat of arms of the Buchachskys or the coat of arms of the illegitimate son of the owner of Buchach ).

The castle protected the approaches to Buchach from the northeast, and also served as a country residence for local feudal lords. It was repeatedly destroyed, in the 18th century it was abolished by the Austrian authorities. Currently in a neglected state.

A fascinating panorama of the Strypa valley opens from the ruins.

The Literary and Memorial Museum of the outstanding Ukrainian writer, publicist and public figure Ulas Samchuk opened in the village of Tyliavka, in the artist's small homeland, in 1993 in the premises of a local school.

The museum was founded on the initiative of a local ethnographer, history teacher and long-time director of the museum, Petro Panasiuk, with the support of Ulas Samchuk's wife, Mrs. Yevhenia Pasternak, who in 1994 transferred from Toronto large collections of materials, works, personal belongings of Ulas Samchuk and the writer's library. So now in the Tyliavka Literary and Memorial Museum of Ulas Samchuk you can see the table at which the outstanding master of the word worked, writing instruments, a camera, a tape recorder, a typewriter, glasses, a telephone, items of clothing, etc.

The Ulas Samchuk Museum includes 5 departments - four exhibition and one scientific. The museum's collections include about five thousand exhibits. The writer's personal library, which is presented in the museum, has more than a thousand copies.

In 2005, a bust of Ulas Samchuk was installed in front of the school, which houses the writer's memorial museum.

On the outskirts of Tyliavka, on Dermanska Street, there is the Samchuk farmstead - a house built in the 1920s, which has been completely preserved to this day. A memorial plaque in honor of Ulas Samchuk is installed on its facade.

The courtyard of a large building on the corner of Taras Shevchenko and Stefan Kachala streets is called the "Venetian (Italian) courtyard" in Ternopil.

In 1893, the Polish stock exchange and library "People's School Society" (Towarzystwa szkoly ludowej) opened here. In 1913, the Podillya Museum was opened with four departments: ethnographic, historical-numismatic, natural history and archeology (its exposition formed the basis of the current local lore museum). Later, the building housed a women's gymnasium, and now it houses the Ternopil City Council Education Department.

The inner courtyard of the building was nicknamed "Venetian" ("Italian") for its characteristic design with an arcade and a portal with columns.

Until recently, the Municipal Police Department was located there, the object was in a very bad condition. Currently, the partially restored "Italian Courtyard" is the summer patio-terrace of the conceptual restaurant-gallery "Bunkermuz".

The Verteba gypsum cave in Bilche-Zolote is one of the largest in Europe. The length of the underground passages is 7820 meters.

The cave consists of wide galleries separated by narrow bridges. The walls are smooth and dark, on the vaults there are carbonate formations in the form of crusts, less often - small stalactites. The average annual temperature in the cave is 9-10 degrees with a relative humidity of 92-100%.

In the V-IV millennium BC, the Verteba cave was used by people as a shelter in case of danger.

In the 19th century, when these lands belonged to the Sapehy princes, more than 300 whole ceramic jugs and a huge number of figurines, sherds, stone and bone tools belonging to the Trypillya culture were found in the cave. Most of them settled in various Polish museums, but some items can be seen in the Borshchiv Museum of Local Lore.

A cave-museum of Trypillya culture has been opened in Verteba, where a collection of sculptures and ceramics in the Trypillya style is exhibited.

The complex nature monument of local importance "Pustelnia Tract" with the waterfall "Maiden's Tears" and the grotto "Hermit's Cave" is located 1.5 kilometers south of Nyrkiv. This is one of the objects of the National Nature Park "Dniester Canyon".

A small grotto is carved out of the travertine rock above the Dzhuryn River. Before the Second World War (according to other sources, at the end of the 19th century), a hermit monk lived in the cave, who was engaged in stone carving. A statue of Saint Onuphrius, carved by a hermit, has been partially preserved.

Part of the cave was destroyed by a landslide.

Three statues of the Mother of God are installed above the spring at the approach to the hermit's cave. The waters of the spring flow down from the rock in thin streams of the "Maiden's Tears" waterfall, around which a special microclimate with unusual vegetation has formed. In 2024, the waterfall suffered from a travertine rock collapse.

The ascent to the "Pustelnia Tract" from Dzhurynskyi Waterfall takes about half an hour. Car access is possible from the side of Ustechko village.

The Yaroslav and Slava Stetsko People's Historical and Memorial Museum was opened in 2002 in the village of Velykyi Hlybochok in the oldest (1773) building of the village - the former parish house, in which in 1912 the future ideologist of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, leader of the Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Peoples, Prime Minister of the Ukrainian State Government Yaroslav Stetsko was born.

The organizer and founder of the museum is Myron Sahaidak, who became interested in Stetsko's biography after meeting his uncle Vasyl when he returned from Siberia, and after meeting Slava Stetsko in 1991, when she came to visit her husband's native village.

The museum's exposition reflects the life and struggle of Yaroslav Stetsko himself, as well as his wife and long-time associate - Slava Stetsko. The museum exhibits paint a detailed picture of Yaroslav Stetsko's childhood - photographs of the Stetsko family home, Yaroslav's father-priest and mother, his first nanny, brother and sister, and high school friends. The exhibition includes more than a hundred original exhibits related to the life and activities of the Stetskos, in particular - personal belongings of Mr. Yaroslav, which were transferred by Slava Stetsko from Munich, and those that Myron Sahaidak himself collected from everywhere, many interesting photographs, letters, and documents.

The main exhibit of the museum is Yaroslav Stetsko's embroidered shirt, which his wife Slava Stetsko embroidered for him in 1944 in Munich in order to support his wounded husband.

In 2018, the Yaroslav and Slava Stetsko People's Historical and Memorial Museum in the village of Velykyi Hlybochok became part of the museum complex "Museum of the National Liberation Struggle of the Ternopil Region".

Zaliztsi Museum of Local Lore was founded in 2020 at the initiative of local historians. The museum is located in the assembly hall and library of Zaliztsi polyclinic.

The exposition tells about the nature of the region and the history of the village from the earliest times. In particular, the exhibition presents a sculpture of Saint Francis of the XIX century from the ruins of the monastery of the Order of the Sisters of Mercy in Zaliztsi.

In 2023, the archaeological exposition of the Zaliztsi Museum of Local Lore was opened. Here you can see the fossilized remains of mollusks of the Sarmatian Sea, silicon products of the Mesolithic era, ceramics of the Vysotska culture, body crosses of the XII-XIII centuries, Cossack pipes and silver coins of the XVII century, and other finds from archaeological excavations on the territory of Zaliztsi.

An exposition in memory of the victims of political repressions is being set up in the former NKVD torture chamber.

In the museum, you can buy souvenirs, book an excursion, and get background information about tourist attractions in the area.

The architectural complex of Zbarazh Castle is one of the best-preserved ancient defensive structures of the Ternopil region, an architectural monument of national importance. For centuries, the castle in Zbarazh served as a residence for Lithuanian princes and Polish nobles, and is now the center of the National Reserve "Castles of Ternopil Region".

The construction of a new fortress instead of the fortress in Stary Zbarazh destroyed by the Tatars was started in 1620 by Princes Hristofor and Yuriy Zbarazkyi, who commissioned a project in Venice from the famous architect and engineer Vinchentso Skamotstsi. His work embodied the advanced achievements of the art of fortification of that time.

The castle consists of a Renaissance-style palace, casemate ramparts surrounding it, an entrance tower and a moat. In the courtyard there is a siege well 70 m deep, connected by underground passages with the Bernardine monastery at the other end of Zbarazh.

In the 17th century, the new owners of Zbarazh Castle, Princes Vyshnevetskyi, fortified it with four bastions. In 1649 the castle withstood a seven-week siege of Bohdan Khmelnytsky's Cossack army, and in 1734 it was captured by the Haydamaks.

Potocki magnates in the XVIII century turned the military fortress into an ordinary palace estate.

During the first half of the 20th century, the building was severely damaged during the wars, and restoration was completed only in 1985. On the basis of Zbarazh Castle, in 1994, the State Historical and Architectural Reserve was created, which later became the National Reserve "Castles of Ternopil Region".

Over the past decade, the White Fireplace Hall, the Arched Gallery, the Upper and Lower Vestibules, the Lord's Living Room and the Mirror Hall have been restored in Zbarazh Castle. The medieval interiors feature exhibitions of antiquities, paintings, icons, and antique furniture, as well as exhibitions of works of art by modern masters. An archaeological and ethnographic exhibition has been set up, a collection of weapons is exhibited in the casemates, unique works by woodcarver Viktor Lupiychuk are on display, and the creation of the diorama "Siege of 1649" is underway.

In one of the casemates there is a restaurant "Legend", in the manor house (XIX century) on the outskirts of the park opened the hotel "Hetman".

Separate buildings of the monastery of the Discalced Carmelites are located to the east of the Vyshnivets Palace, to the left of the central gate.

The construction of the monastery was carried out in the 1640s at the same time as the construction of the new Vyshnivets Castle, the monastery became part of its defense system.

In 1645, Ivan Vyshnevetskyi laid the foundation of the baroque church of Saint Michael, and his descendants, Mykhaylo Servatsiy, completed the construction. It was in the Michael Church that all Vyshnevetskyi, who professed Catholicism, were buried.

In 1648, the monastery was destroyed by the Cossacks of Maksym Krivonos, who captured Vyshnivets, but was soon revived. Closed in 1832, later fell into disrepair. The church was blown up during the Soviet regime. The cell building and the fence with the monumental gate in the Baroque style have been preserved.

The small and very simple castle church of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the village of Kryvche was built in the 17th century - at the same time as the Kryvche Castle.

According to other sources, the church was rebuilt from the castle powder tower in 1723. It served as a burial place for the Holiyovsky magnates.

The church is located in a spruce grove on the edge of the castle hill. Partially restored.

The Roman Catholic Church of the Immaculate Conception of the Holy Virgin Mary was built in Zaliztsi in 1889 as a chapel of the monastery of the Sisters of Saint Vincent de Paul.

During the Soviet rule, the church building was used as a warehouse.

Today it is an active Roman Catholic church.

The mountain "Maiden's Rocks" in Kremenets is a natural monument of state importance.

The picturesque rock spur with a height of 376 meters is located in the north-eastern part of the city, within the National Park "Kremenetsky Mountains".

The mountain is associated with a legend about girls captured by the Tatars - residents of Kremenets ravaged by the Krymchaks. Not wanting to be enslaved, the girls threw themselves into the abyss from the rock, which has since been called "Maiden's".

Broken blocks piled up in primordial chaos, steep cliffs and amazing stone compositions, black abysses of grottoes and caves encircle the mountain with a long ribbon 2.6 kilometers long. Shell-like, dense limestones that rise to the surface in steep cornices create a kind of uniqueness and beauty.

Ternopil Castle was founded in 1540 by the Grand Crown Hetman Yan Tarnovskyi on the site of the ancient Rus settlement of Sopilche (Topilche) to defend the Polish borders from the Tatars.

In the 17th century, the Grand Crown Chancellor Tomash Zamoyskyi significantly expanded the fortifications, but in the following years they were repeatedly destroyed. In particular, the Ternopil castle was almost completely dismantled by the Turks after the capture of the city in 1672.

At the beginning of the 19th century, Count Frantsishek Korytovskyi built a palace in its place, for which the surviving fortifications, towers and gates were demolished, and the building was surrounded by an ordinary fence. Some castle elements have been preserved.

During the First World War, the palace was burned and was in ruins for a long time. Renovated in 1951, it houses exhibition halls and a training and sports center.

From the street the Ternopil castle building looks inconspicuous, but from the side of the lake its fortification character is well visible.

The "Museum of the City of Ternopil" was opened in the dungeons of the castle.

Twin Houses in Kremenets are unusual in terms of architecture, a residential building in the Baroque style.

It consists of two symmetrical parts, which are covered with separate gable roofs and differ slightly from each other in design details.

According to legend, twin brothers once lived here.

Restoration is planned.