Attractions of Khmelnytskyi district

Taras Shevchenko Square is a favorite recreation spot for residents of Khmelnytskyi.

Until the 19th century, there was an oak grove on the outskirts of old Proskuriv. In 1824, a shopping area was created on the site of the grove, and part of the trees were cut down. For some time, the square was used as a military parade ground of the 46th Dnipro Infantry Regiment. At the end of the 19th century, they decided to create a city garden at this place, and the square was planted with trees.

Decorative shrubs were planted in 1960-1980, at the same time a cinema was built. The park zone with an area of 5 hectares has a regular layout. The main compositional node is the square with the monument to Taras Shevchenko (1992).

The Taras Shevchenko Square is decorated with whimsical metal sculptures created by the modern artist Mykola Mazur.

The main architectural monument of Staryi Ostropil is the Transfiguration Church - an architectural monument of national significance.

The stone church of the Transfiguration of the Lord is a rotunda with a rectangular vestibule covered by a complex system of vaults resting on four pylons and walls.

Elements of classicism are used in the decorative design of facades and interiors. The upper part has been changed as a result of unscrupulous reconstruction.

Since May 2022, it belongs to the community of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

A stone column erected during the stay of the Turkish garrison in Medzhibizh (1672-1699) is called a "Turkish Pillar" in the village of Trebukhivtsi.

It is an obelisk pillar, square in plan, gradually narrowing upwards, with a three-slope end. It is located southwest of the Medzhibizh castle, on the opposite bank of the Pivdenniy Buh, near the bridge. At first it stood over the grave of a Turkish military commander, later it served as a chapel.

Another column-chapel is located in the upper part of the Old Town, near the Saint Nicolas Church (turn left after the church).

The house of the veterinarian of Count Potoski's stud farm was built in Antoniny at the beginning of the 20th century. The building is in the Art Nouveau style with Western European motifs in the decor.

Currently, the Antoniny Children's Music School is located here.

Volochysk Historical and Ethnographic Museum is located in the city center. The exposition tells about the history of the region from ancient times to the present day.

The Literary Museum of the poet-warrior Volodymyr Bulayenko was opened in 1993 in his native village of Sorokoduby. The exposition is located in the premises of the Sorokoduby Village Club.

Volodymyr Bulayenko was born in Sorokoduby in 1918, went to Sorokoduby Primary School. He began writing poetry in his school years. He fought as a volunteer on the fronts of World War II, died in 1944.

Volodymyr Bulayenko's work became known thanks to Lina Kostenko. The first collection of his poems was published in 1958. Later, he was posthumously accepted into the Writers' Union.

The museum's exposition presents early editions of Volodymyr Bulayenko's works, historical photographs and documents, and stands with quotes from his poems.

His bust is installed on the site of the poet's parental home.

The high six-level brick watchtower over the Sluch River, clearly visible from the route, is considered a symbol of Starokostiantyniv.

The 35-meter-high square tower-donjon in the Gothic style was built in the 16th century under Prince Kostyantyn Ostrozky and was part of the system of city fortifications. Later (according to other sources, at the same time as the construction), the Orthodox Church of the Ascension of the Cross was added to it, which Yanush Ostrozky handed over to the Catholics in 1612.

The tower became the belfry of the Church of the Mother of God Hromnycha of the Dominican monastery located here. In the 18th century, reconstruction was carried out (architect Ernest Zhiber), the tower received a Renaissance design. In 1853, the church was rededicated as the Cathedral of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, and 20 years later it was rebuilt in the pseudo-Rus style.

During Soviet times, the temple was closed and destroyed, the tower lost its ceiling. The monastery premises were occupied by structures of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Currently, the premises are used by the Exaltation of the Cross Men's Monastery of the UOC of the Moscow Patriarchate.

On one of the walls of the temple, you can see the contours of the faces of the saints that appeared through the plaster (perhaps the Holy Mother of God and Princess Olha).

The beautiful five-story building of the water mill made of red brick is clearly visible from the castle of Ostrozki in Starokostiantyniv on the opposite bank of the river.

The Red Mill was built in 1905 on the isthmus at the confluence of the Ikopot River with Sluch by the order of the sugar factory Dubasov, then it became the property of his widow, the last mistress of the Starokostiantyniv Castle.

The monumentality of the architectural image, the expressive decorative design of the facades, the successful location - all this makes the Old Kostiantyn mill one of the most striking monuments of industrial architecture of the modern era in Ukraine. Restoration is underway.

The Kupyn water mill on the Smotrych River is the oldest such structure preserved in Ukraine.

It was built in 1455, as evidenced by the inscription on the facade. For the mill, a place with the largest drop in the river level was chosen, next to the largest waterfall in Khmelnytskyi region. The last reconstruction was carried out at the end of the 19th century, when Baroness fon Hildenbadt owned Kupyn. Since that time, the Swiss equipment has survived and is still functioning.

The water mill on the Sluch River next to the manor in Samchyky was built at the beginning of the 18th century by the landowners Khoyetsky.

The mill was turned by a wooden vertical wheel of the lower operation with a diameter of 6 meters. Under the landowner Ivan Uhrimov, the mill produced 10 types of flour. In 1904-1905, the last owner of the estate, Mykhaylo Shestakov, reconstructed the mill, adding a second floor.

In Soviet times, the mill was converted into a hydroelectric power station.

The Wild Animal Park-Shelter "Arden" was created in 2020 to rehabilitate predators and other animals that have suffered from improper human captivity. It is located on an area of ​​32 hectares on the territory of the National Nature Park "Podilski Tovtry", next to the balneological resort of Sataniv.

In conditions as close to natural as possible, more than two dozen brown bears live here, as well as wolves, foxes, deer, fallow deer, mouflons and other forest animals. In 2023, a family of lions and a white Bengal tiger settled in the park.

The animals are in isolated and fenced areas of the forest and walk freely on the ground. A kilometer-long observation bridge-gallery in the shape of a horseshoe has been laid throughout the territory at a height of about 5 meters, from which visitors can observe the animals accompanied by a guide. During excursions, visitors are told about the origin of each animal, their habits and nutritional characteristics.

Group excursions are held every hour. Individual excursions for organized ones must be booked in advance.

There is a pizzeria and a souvenir shop on the territory of the "Arden Park".

The Museum of the Second World War in Volochysk was established in 2012 on the basis of the Pillbox (DOT - long-range firing point) of the Proskuriv Fortress District (PrUR) during the Second World War, which was part of the so-called "Stalin Line".

It is a two-storey machine gun semi-caponier for two machine guns. On the upper floor there were battle casemates and a control point. At the bottom - living room, fan, diesel, storage. The military situation was recreated in the premises, samples of weapons, uniforms, personal belongings of soldiers of those times were collected.

The section of the defensive line of the Proskuriv fortified area was reconstructed nearby: a trench of the infantry division's position, a dugout for sheltering personnel. An exposition of military equipment of different years has been opened.

The Yarmolyntsi Historical Museum is located in the premises of the monastery of the Bernardine Order, the construction of which was begun in 1761 by General Pavlo Starzhynsky.

The museum's exposition includes a model of the castle, which was built in 1445 by Oleksandr Khodok, archival documents, unique photographs, archaeological finds, ancient household items, works of masters of decorative and applied arts, which tell about the history of the region and its inhabitants.

In 2024, the Yarmolyntsi Historical Museum was replenished with a new exposition, which was created from the personal belongings of the native of Yarmolyntsi, the deceased Hero of the Russian-Ukrainian War Taras Chvartatsky.

The Museum of Yukhym Sitsinsky in the village of Maznyky, a local native, a famous Ukrainian historian, ethnographer, patriarch of Podillia local lore, founder and director of the first historical museum of the region, a figure in the Ukrainian Revolution of 1917-1921 in Podillia, was opened in 1999.

The exhibition presents exhibits that tell about the multifaceted personality of the scientist: his personal belongings, information stands with photographs, published copies of scientific works.

The museum is located near the village school in a two-story library building.

The ruins of the castle in Zinkiv are located on a high oblong promontory formed by the valley of the Ushka River and a ravine.

Zinkiv Castle was founded on the site of an ancient Russian fortification in 1431 by the Podillya Voivode Petro Odrovonzh, making it one of the most important outposts in the network of Podillya fortresses. He repeatedly repelled Tatar attacks.

The castle, triangular in plan with walls 10 meters high and up to 3.5 meters thick at the corners, had large hexagonal towers, two of them three-story, one a four-story donjon tower. One of the walls of the fortress was the outer wall of a large three-story building. From the side of the city, the castle was separated by a deep moat, over which a suspension bridge was thrown.

The fortress was slightly damaged during the Liberation War and during the Turkish invasion, but was completely rebuilt after the return of the Poles in the 18th century, when Zinkiv was owned by the Senyavskyis.

In the 19th century, Zinkiv Castle was used for administrative and economic purposes, but in 1898, the village community decided that the old walls threatened the church below, and the building was almost completely dismantled for building materials. Only the ruins of its oldest part - the southern tower (one floor high) and four casemate apartments under the foundation of the western wall - have survived from the once powerful fortress.