Attractions of Kremenets district

The Vyshnivets Palace and Park Complex is located on the steep bank of the Horyn River in the historic town of Vyshnivets. It was founded on the foundations of the medieval Vyshnivets Castle, which has been repeatedly rebuilt and expanded since the 17th century. For several centuries it was the ancestral home and main residence of one of the most influential Ukrainian princely families, the Korybut-Vyshnevetsky (Kaributas-Wiśniowiecki).

The luxurious palace in the style of classicism with elements of the French Renaissance was built in Vyshnivets at the beginning of the 18th century by the last of the Vyshnevetsky family, the great Polish magnate Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki. Ukrainian, Polish and French architects worked on the construction of the palace for 30 years.

The Vyshnevetsky Palace consists of several volumes, united during the reconstruction at the end of the 18th century into a symmetrical U-shaped composition with axial and corner risalites. On the first floor, there was an 80-meter-long hall of mirrors - an exact copy of the Hall of Mirrors of Versailles, the main hall was decorated with white ceramic tiles with a blue pattern. 3 cascades of gardens descended from the palace to the river.

In 1744, the estate passed to the Mniszechs, relatives of the Vyshnevetskys. They turned the Vyshnivets Palace into a first-class tycoon's residence in the late Rococo style with a magnificent art gallery. The palace was considered the most luxurious in Volyn. Honoré de Balzac, who visited Vyshnivets in 1848, called it "small Versailles".

The last owners took little care of the monument, and it was especially damaged during the Second World War. Restored in 1950, but without interior decoration. Various institutions were located here.

Currently, the Vyshnivetsky Palace is a branch of the National Reserve "Castles of Ternopil Region". Since 2005, a complete restoration of its buildings has been underway. The main decoration of the palace is again the Mirrors Hall, where the Vyshnevetskys once received European monarchs, famous artists, military figures, writers and poets. The restored halls already house an exhibition and offer guided tours.

The Castle Church of the Ascension of the Lord was built in 1530 as the family tomb of the Vyshnevetsky princes. Ivan Vyshnevetskyi, Dmytro Bayda's father, was involved in its construction.

About 20 representatives of the Vyshnevetskyi family are buried in the church, including the Ovruch mayor Mykhaylo Vyshnevetskyi and his wife Rayina Mohylyanka.

The temple has the shape of a ship and is distinguished by excellent acoustics. Inside are religious figures made by folk craftsmen.

In 1872-1873, major repairs were carried out, new bells were cast, and the iconostasis was gilded. Two icons of the Holy Mother of God, made in the ancient Rus and Byzantine styles, were donated by princes Kostyantyn and Mykhaylo-Servatsiy Vyshnevetskyi.

During the struggle against Orthodoxy, the Ascension Church remained the only Orthodox church in the entire district. In 1963, the church was closed and looted, only 26 years later it was returned to the Orthodox Church.

Currently, the Church of the Ascension of the Lord belongs to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

A monument to the Cossacks Maksym Kryvonos, who died in 1648 during the storming of Kremenets Castle, as well as graves with stone Cossack crosses of the 17th and 18th centuries are located on the territory of the current Pyatnytskyi cemetery at the foot of Mount Chercha.

Over a hundred stone tombstones with crosses have survived in the Cossack cemetery of Kremenets, some of which have inscriptions. The monument in the form of a cross was erected in 1995.

The majestic complex of buildings of the Jesuit church, monastery and collegium in the baroque style is the architectural dominant of Kremenets. In the 18th-19th centuries, the Kremenets collegium was one of the largest centers of education in the Podillya and Volyn lands. Jesuit monks were invited to Kremenets by Prince Yanush Vyshnyvetskyi to create a Catholic collegium on the basis of the sister school of the Epiphany Monastery. In 1731-1743, the famous Italian architect Paolo Fontana built the church of Saint Ignatius of Loyola and Stanislav Kostka (now the Transfiguration Cathedral of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine) with adjacent educational buildings at the expense of the Vyshnyvetskyi.

In 1805, on the initiative of the historian and educator Tadeusz Czacki, the collegium was transformed first into the Volyn Gymnasium, and then into the Volyn Lyceum. The famous park builder Dionysius Makler (Mickler) laid a botanical garden next to it, which still exists today. In 1832, after the suppression of the Polish uprising, the higher school was closed, and its library funds and teaching staff became the basis for the creation of Kyiv University. A theological seminary was opened instead of a lyceum.

After the return of the Poles at the beginning of the 20th century, the lyceum was restored, and during Soviet times, a pedagogical school was opened on its base. Currently, it is the Taras Shevchenko Taras Shevchenko Regional Humanitarian and Pedagogical Academy.

Stone Kremenets Castle on the site of an ancient Rus settlement was built in the 12th century on the top of Castle Hill (Bona). In the 15th century, by order of the Grand Duke Vitovt of Lithuania, it was strengthened with defensive walls.

The prosperity of Kremenets Castle is connected with the name of the Neapolitan princess Bona Sfortsa, the wife of Polish King Syhizmund I, who gave her Kremenets in 1536. A relative of the Roman emperor, Bona strengthened the castle, which at that time had three towers, high walls and a garrison armed with cannons. The castle yard housed barracks, a powder cellar, a siege well (80 meters) and a palace, which Bona turned into a luxurious residence. Although there is no reliable information about the stay of Queen Bona in Kremenets, since those times there have been legends about her beauty, temperament, experience in intrigues, but also about her extreme cruelty.

In 1648, the Kremenets Castle was stormed and completely destroyed by the Cossack detachment of Maksym Kryvonos. A tower with a gate and defensive walls have been preserved.

Excursions are conducted by employees of the Kremenets-Pochaiv state historical and cultural reserve.

The open-air museum of the Camp UPA Volyn-South was founded in 1992 in the Dihtyarnya tract near Antonivtsi, where the headquarters of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army military district operated in 1942-1944.

Under the pseudonym "Kruk", which became famous for a number of successful combat operations against the Nazis. The camp withstood the blow of General von dem Bach's SS division with the support of the air force in 1943. In 1944, the largest battle in the history of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army took place in the Hurba tract, with 5,000 insurgents In memory of these events on the territory of the Antonivtsi camp the UPA memorial was created, the objects of the camp were recreated: the headquarters of the military district "Volyn-South", summer class officers' schools, a camp chapel near the spring, a bunker-hideout.

In 2008, the regional program for the creation of the spiritual and cultural museum complex "Antonivetska Respublika" was approved. Reconstruction of the open-air museum "Camp UPA Volyn-South" has started.

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 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 Yuliush Slovatsky Literary Memorial Museum was opened in Kremenets in the estate of Yanushevsky (the poet's grandfather), where he spent his childhood in 1814-1828.

Yuliush Slovatsky is one of the most famous Polish poets of the Romantic period. He was born and lived in Kremenets for many years, and then repeatedly praised his hometown in his works. Many objects in the Kremenets are connected with the name of Slovatsky: his native house, the lyceum to which his father taught, his mother's grave in the Tunytsky cemetery.

The museum exposition is located in eight rooms, each of which reflects a certain stage of the poet's creative path. The museum has 1,500 exhibits. Since 2004, the museum has had an extensive exposition "The Hour of Thought of Yuliush Slovatsky".

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 building of the Kremenets School of Arts named after Mykhaylo Verykivsky was built in the 19th century and is an architectural monument.

During Polish times, it housed a polyclinic. Since 1939 - a music school.

The Kremenets Botanical Garden at the Kremenets Lyceum was founded in 1806 by the Irish gardener and park builder Denis McClair (Dionizy Mikler).

On 4.5 hectares, he planted 460 species of local plants and 760 imported from different places. Already by 1809, the number of trees and shrubs reached 12 thousand. Among them: edible chestnut, Canadian pine, Pontic azalea, araucaria, red-leaved beech, ginkgo, white mulberry, fig, white-flowered ash, tulip tree.

After the dissolution of the lyceum in 1832-1834, the most valuable breeds were transported to Kyiv to the garden of Saint Volodymyr University.

Currently, the Kremenets Botanical Garden is a monument of horticultural art. It occupies 200 hectares.

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.

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.

The Arsen Richynskyi Museum was founded in 2004 at the Kremenets Medical School, which bears the name of this outstanding Ukrainian public, political and church figure, composer, photographer, local historian, founder of Ukrainian ethnology of religion, and doctor. The museum was opened in 2008.

The museum's exposition contains numerous and interesting historical documents, books, and photographs that illustrate the life path of this extraordinary personality. The author of most of the photographs displayed on the museum stands is Arsen Richynskyi himself, as he was a professional photographer. The captions to the photographs are his own.