Attractions of Rivne region

The outstanding architectural ensemble of the defensive Holy Trinity Monastery in Mezhyrich has been decorating the cape formed by the confluence of the Viliya and Svitenka rivers for six centuries.

This monument of the Volyn school of architecture combines the traditions of ancient Rus constructive techniques with elements of Gothic-Renaissance architecture of the XV-XVII centuries.

According to legend, the Orthodox monastery at this place was founded by Kyiv-Pechersk monks during the Mongol-Tatar invasion. In the 15th century, Prince Kostyantyn Ostrozky began the construction of a wooden castle with the Trinity Church in the center of the courtyard, which became the basis of a fortified monastery. His descendants soon built a stone temple in ancient Rus forms.

At the beginning of the 17th century, the monastery came under the control of the Catholic order of Franciscans, who added Gothic and Renaissance decor to the temple, added two two-story cell buildings with paired round towers at the corners, and also surrounded the complex with stone fortress walls with crenellated defensive towers in the Renaissance style. All this gave the monastery the appearance of an elegant medieval castle.

In the middle of the 19th century, the complex was destroyed by fire, it remained abandoned for a long time.

Now the monastery has been handed over to the Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. The Mezhyrich icon of the Mother of God "Zhyttiepodavnytsia" (XVI century) crowned by Catholics is kept here - the ancestral icon of the princes of Ostroh, as well as the miraculous icon of Anthony the Great.

The Saint Nicholas Horodok Convent was founded in the 16th century, when Princess Anastasiya Vilshanska donated her Horodok estate with a castle on an island in the middle of the Ustya River to the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.

During the time of Ruina, when Ukraine was divided between Poland and Russia, the monastery passed to the Greek Catholics and became the residence of bishops. In 1740, the bishop of Kamyanets, Atanasiy Sheptytskyi, built a stone church of Saint Nicholas of Myrlikiya on the island. The stone body of the cells, which adjoins the church from the south, is dated to the same period.

After the annexation of Volhynia to the Russian Empire, the new owner of the estate, Count Esterhazi, rebuilt the cell block into a manor palace in the style of classicism and planted a park on the island. At the end of the 19th century, Baron Feodor fon Shteynhel built three new buildings to the northeast of the church and placed the first local history museum in Volyn in one of them.

During World War II, the palace housed a military hospital, then a regional tuberculosis sanatorium. In 1991, the complex of cells was transferred to the UOC of the Moscow Patriarchate, which revived the Saint Nicholas Horodok Women's Monastery. At the same time, the Church of Saint Nicholas belongs to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

The Hoshcha Orthodox Monastery was founded in 1639 at the Saint Michael's Church, which, according to the protective plaque, was built in Hoshcha in 1632.

The founder of the monastery was Rehina Solomyretska-Hoyska, who inherited Hoshcha from her brother Roman Hoysky. Soon, a relative of Metropolitan Petro Mohyla of Solomyretska transferred here from Vinnytsia a branch of the Kyiv-Mohylyanska Orthodox School, whose rector was Innokenty Hisel. The monastery and the school were helped in every possible way by the champion of Orthodoxy, the Ukrainian nobleman Adam Kysil, who owned the Hoshcha house since 1642. Soon, the Michael Church and the monastery passed to the Greek Catholics, but in 1833 they were finally returned to the Orthodox.

Each time the temple was rebuilt, but did not lose its distinctive features. In particular, the window openings have preserved their original slightly arrowed contours - echoes of Gothic architecture. The building acquired its modern appearance as a result of reconstruction in 1888. The warm Saint Nicholas Church was built next to it with a cell building attached to it.

During the Soviet rule, the premises were used for economic purposes. At present, the restored churches are part of the complex of the Saint-Intercession Hoshcha women's monastery.

The palace and park complex in Mlyniv was founded in 1775 by tycoon Yan-Mykola Khodkevych, inviting the Polish court architect Efrayim Shreher.

The 25-hectare park was planned by the famous park builder Dionysius Mikler.

Valuable collections of French and Chinese porcelain, paintings, and silverware were stored in the palace.

Heavily damaged during the Second World War, the palace was dismantled, and the premises of the zoo-veterinary technical school were built in its place.

One of the outbuildings of the palace, in which the Khodkevychy lived until 1939, has been preserved, as well as the dilapidated pavilion of the Philosopher's House and the summer gazebo.

The Mlyniv Museum of Local Lore is located in the wing, the interior of Khodkevych's room is reproduced.

Next to the estate is the Intercession Church with a bell tower (1830-1840).

Khotyn Caves near Rivne are a natural monument of local importance (since 1979).

They are located on the slope of the second floodplain terrace of the Horyn River near the village of Khotyn.

The caves interested researchers as early as the 19th century, when drawings were discovered on the walls, possibly dating back to pre-Christian times. Probably, the Khotyn Caves were a refuge for local residents during enemy attacks.

According to legend, an underground passage leads to Rivne.

The well-preserved, well-fortified Klevan Castle was founded in 1475 by Prince Mykhaylo Chartoriysky on the site of an ancient Rus settlement above the Stubla River.

The castle is surrounded by powerful walls (thickness of 3.8 meters) and a defensive moat, over which a four-arch bridge is thrown. The construction was supervised by the Lviv fortification engineer Ivan Lys, the architect of the Lviv City Arsenal. Two corner towers were also preserved from the original building. In the 17th and 18th centuries, a college of Jesuits was located here. After the reconstruction carried out in 1817 by Kostyantyn Chartoryysky, a Polish gymnasium was opened in the new buildings, then a theological school.

During the Soviet rule, the Klevan Castle housed a boarding school, a mechanization school, and a NKVD post at various times, then it was converted into a treatment and labor ward for alcoholics.

Currently, the buildings are derelict, and projects for reconstruction and development of tourist infrastructure are being discussed. Klevan Castle is cared for by volunteers from the sports and patriotic organization "Shyt".

Kostopil Museum of Local Lore is located in a small one-story house in the center of Kostopil.

There are 10 exhibitions about the nature, history and ethnography of the region. In the exposition "Nature of the native land" the most interesting dioramas are "River and meadow" and "Forest".

In the ethnographic corner the interior of the Polissya house was reconstructed, the full process of fabric making was presented.

The archeological collection includes tools of prehistoric times, fragments of pottery, bronze products.

The history of the region is told by the exhibition "Kostopil region from the IX century to 1921".

Stands "Kostopilshchyna Today" is actually an advertising exhibition of products of local enterprises.

A large collection of military equipment from the Second World War, open to the 40th anniversary of the victory, is on display on the site in front of the museum. Among the 17 exhibits are an IS-3 tank, a BM-13 Katyusha jet mortar, ISU-122 and ISU-152 self-propelled artillery units, a 203-mm B-4 howitzer, an automatic anti-aircraft gun, and more.

The Literary and Ethnographic Museum "Olesya" was founded in the village of Kuzmivka on the basis of the Kuzmivka Comprehensive School in 1990.

The first hall of the museum is dedicated to the life and work of Oleksandr Kuprin, who lived in Kuzmivka (then Kazymyrka) at the end of the 19th century and wrote his famous story "Olesya". The prototypes of the heroes of the work were local residents, and the events described actually happened to him.

The next hall is ethnographic. Here are presented materials about the history of Kuzmivka and the region, ancient things that Polishchuk people used at the beginning of the last century, tools, household items, and ancient clothing.

The Church of the Resurrection of the Lord (former Saint Nicholas Church) was built in Kozlyn in 1793.

This is one of the few temples that survived during the Soviet occupation in the vicinity.

The Resurrection Church is an architectural monument of local importance.

The People`s Ethnographic and Local Lore Museum of the village of Lypky was founded in 1967. It bears the name of its founder and long-time director - the famous local historian, poet, writer and teacher Ivan Shyshko.

The museum's exposition chronicled the history of the village, presented tools of labor, household items, clothing from different times, and albums collected descriptions of rituals and village songs.

In the second half of the 1980s, enthusiasts restored a peasant hut of the 18th-19th centuries to house part of the exposition, demonstrating the traditional way of life. The hut has a peasant stove, a chest, a loom, a wicker hanging cradle, a sleeping mat, and on the walls are images in towels. In the pantry - straw mats, a stupa, and boxes. In the hallway - a grater and a millstone.

The estate of the landowner Mykhaylo Malynskyi, the Dubene marshal (leader of the nobility) in the village of Zirne (a suburb of the city of Berezne) was founded at the end of the 19th century.

The landscape park with an area of 18 hectares was laid out on drained marshes in 1874-1897 (according to legend, the author of the project was the famous Irish landscape painter Dionisiy Mikler, which is unlikely). Among the 80 species of trees that grow here, there are Weymouth pine, Siberian spruce, European larch, silver maple, hornbeam, oak, ash and others. Several manor buildings in the Western European chalet style with elements of Art Nouveau have been preserved on the territory of the park.

Currently, an anti-tuberculosis sanatorium is located on the territory of the Malynsky manor. On the western edge of the park, you can see an unusual brick water tower about 25 meters high, which is stylized as the tower of a fairy-tale castle.

A monument to Princess Mariya Rivnenska (Nesvytska), the wife of Prince Semen Nesvytskyi, who in the 15th century contributed to the transformation of Rivne from a small village into a large city, was erected in the city center in 2006.

After the death of Prince Nesvytskyi in 1479, Rivne passed into the hands of his wife, who became known as Mariya Rivnenska. She laid a castle on the island and other city buildings, with her the city received the right of Magdeburg and the privilege of an annual fair. In 1507, Mariya Rivnenska (Nesvytska) received from the king the right of eternal possession of the castle and the city.

The private museum "Blacksmith Delights" ("Kovalski Vytrebenky") in Rivne was founded in 2013 by the owners of the enterprise "Rivnebudpostach" (now "Rivnemetalkom"), which is the organizer of the International Blacksmith Art Festival "Metal Heart of Ukraine". The collection was launched by a metal shoe created at one of the festivals.

Currently, the exposition presents more than a hundred products of blacksmith art, both from Rivne blacksmiths and masters from other regions of Ukraine. Among the works are political cartoons and creative experiments with materials by Roman Veligursky, sculptures by Artem Volsky, sophisticated compositions by Viktor Mikhalyov, etc. Metal candelabras, knight's armor, filigree chests and several dozen different metal figures are presented. The largest exhibit is a two-meter long bear with a fishing rod and a bucket.

In 2016, the Art Gallery of Blacksmithing was opened at the museum.

The private museum "Verkhivska Sadyba" is being created in the village of Verkhiv in the Rivne region by a family of doctors - Ihor and Liudmyla Korchak. They undertook to restore a Ukrainian rural farmstead built in the 1920s-1930s by a local peasant Sydir Zabiyaka.

The authentic farmstead has buildings typical of the first half of the 20th century - a brick house with a stove, a barn and a forge with a workshop. Also in the courtyard is a wooden house from the late 19th century, transported from the village of Nova Moshchanytsia and newly assembled from wooden beams. The roof has also been authentically restored to match the style of the house.

The exhibition will feature restored century-old furniture, elements of vintage clothing, various dishes, household tools, carpentry tools, fishing tackle, etc.

The founders of the estate plan to restore not only the architecture and furnishings, but also the household life of that time. Visitors will be able to see how our ancestors lived and feel the atmosphere of that era.

The Orthodox Church of the Nativity of Christ is located in the center of Klevan next to the castle.

It was founded in 1777 as a Greek Catholic church. The stone church of the Nativity of Christ was built at the expense of Adam Chartoryysky. It has characteristic forms of classicism, decorated with a hollow pilaster portico of the Tuscan order with a triangular pediment, finished with a semicircular attic. Planning is typical of folk architecture: cross plan, single-headed finish.

In 1844, a stone bell tower was erected next to the Church of the Nativity of Christ.

It belongs to the UOC of the Moscow Patriarchate.