Attractions of Lviv region

The Kamyanka waterfall on the river of the same name is located on the territory of the National Nature Park "Skolivski Beskydy" near the village of Kamyanka.

Water falls from a height of 7 meters from massive stone boulders in a picturesque gap in the mountain range in two streams separated by a rock ledge.

The road to the Kamyanka waterfall is a source of "living water" - hydrogen sulphide mineral water, similar to the Truskavets "Naftusya", which can be used for preventive and therapeutic purposes.

On the opposite side of the road is Lake Zhuravlyne, which is also called "Dead" because no fish live in cold water with a high content of hydrogen sulfide. Routes to all these natural attractions are marked with pointers.

There is a souvenir bazaar and a large meadow where you can pitch a tent camp near the Kamyanka waterfall. Gazebos for relaxation are arranged above the stream. On hot weekends there is a large flow of tourists.

The Latin Cathedral is the main church of the Roman Catholic Church in Lviv. The official name is the Metropolitan Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Lviv Archdiocese. Unofficially, Lviv residents call it simply the Cathedral.

It was built and rebuilt by Lviv city planners for 400 years. The first stone was laid by the Polish king Kazymyr the Great in 1360. After the restoration of 1760-1778, Gothic forms gave way to the then fashionable Baroque.

In the cathedral there was an icon of the Mother of God the Merciful ("The Beautiful Star of the City of Lviv"), the original of which is now kept in Vavel in Krakow. Its exact copy was made for Lviv and in 2001 Pope Ivan Paul II crowned it.

The main organ, stained glass windows by Yan Mateyko and others have been preserved. In the eastern wall, you can see the cores, reminiscent of the Turkish siege of 1672, as well as a projectile left over from the Ukrainian-Polish war of 1918-1919.

At the end of the 18th century, a cemetery with numerous chapels was located around the church, of which only the most valuable have survived: the Boim chapel (1609-1615) and the Campian chapel (1619).

The Latin Cathedral is the Sanctuary of the Mother of God the Merciful and Divine Mercy.

National University "Lviv Polytechnic" was founded in 1844, it was the first academic technical school in Ukraine.

The building of the Technical Academy was built in 1877 by the architect Yulian Zakhariyevych, who became its rector. The interiors of the magnificent building are richly decorated with sculptures and moldings. Ten paintings of the assembly hall were made based on sketches by Yan Mateyko.

Currently, Lviv Polytechnic has the status of a national university, 30,000 students study here.

Excursions of the Main Building of the University are conducted, during which visitors are introduced to the history of the institution, unique interiors, masterpieces of painting and sculpture, the Machine Hall with mechanisms and equipment from different eras, the 19th century student library, the oldest observatory in Ukraine, and the Museum of the History of the Polytechnic.

The Museum of Memory of Victims of Stalinist Repressions was founded in the village of Shchyrets in 2009 in the former courtyard of a Roman Catholic priest, where in June 1941, employees of the NKVD district department executed 26 innocent local residents.

The museum complex consists of several objects - a memorial stele, a chapel, a cross with a grave, a demonstration hiding place of UPA soldiers and the museum itself. Materials for the exhibition were provided by eyewitnesses of those terrible events from the surrounding villages.

The main exhibition of the Museum of Memory of Victims of Stalinist Repressions is located in the premises of a former stable, built at the end of the 19th century, in which the NKVD set up a torture chamber in 1941.

The first hall of the museum is dedicated to the innocent civilians of Shchyrets and its environs who were tortured by the Stalinist regime. Separate sections of the exhibition are dedicated to the history of the liberation movement in the region, the activities of the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen and fighters of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army - clothing (embroidery, uniforms) and objects (printing machine, guns) used by the soldiers are presented. In addition, the exhibition introduces materials about the clergy, intelligentsia and Ukrainian nationalists repressed during the Stalinist era, and also explores the life stories of local residents who were repressed to Siberia.

In the second hall, called "Ukrainian Hut", antique household items that were once used in the household are collected, images, embroidered towels and shirts, "Crimean" scarves, etc. are stored.

You can see how the soldiers of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army lived during the liberation struggle in a specially equipped hiding place. Next to the hiding place is a memorial stele to the soldiers of the OUN-UPA, erected at the expense of patrons.

The new exhibition of the museum of memory of the victims of Stalinist repressions is dedicated to the heroes of the Heavenly Hundred and the Russian-Ukrainian war. On August 29, 2024, on the Day of Remembrance of the Defenders of Ukraine who died in the struggle for the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, the Heroes' Memorial Alley was opened in the village of Shchyrets.

The Lychakiv cemetery-museum, located near the center of Lviv, is more like a landscape park.

The cemetery was officially founded in 1784, although it existed on this site as early as the 16th century. The territory of 40 hectares is divided into 86 fields, on which there are almost 3.5 thousand monuments and compositions of the work of famous sculptors and architects. Ivan Franko, Solomiya Krushelnytska, Mariya Konopnytska, Volodymyr Ivasyuk and others are buried at the Lychakiv Cemetery.

In 1991, the Lychakiv cemetery became a historical-memorial museum-reserve.

Many controversies in the 1990s caused the restoration of the "Cemetery of the Eagles" memorial, destroyed during the Soviet era, in honor of Polish soldiers who died in 1918-1920 in the Ukrainian-Polish and Soviet-Polish wars. The memorial was officially opened in 2005 at the same time as the memorial to the fallen soldiers of the Ukrainian Galician Army.

The Museum-Kryivka of OUN-UPA Soldiers near the village of Havarechchyna was solemnly opened for the 65th anniversary of the UPA in 2007. It was at this place that on the night of February 17-18, 1947, Ivan Kernytsky (pseudonym "Krylatiy"), the representative of the regional district of the OUN, died in a battle with the Moscow invaders.

In a forest kryivka near Havarechchyna, the insurgents were preparing training materials and anti-election propaganda literature. A thorough reconstruction of the hiding place demonstrates the situation of a typical kryivka and the daily life of UPA fighters. The Gallery of Heroes was also opened, where portraits of fighters for the freedom and independence of Ukraine are presented and the history of the struggle of the UPA for the Ukrainian state is told.

A memorial complex was built nearby, a symbolic grave was filled and an oak cross with a commemorative tablet was installed.

Excursions are conducted by employees of the "Northern Podillya" National Nature Park.

The National Academic Opera and Ballet Theater named after Solomiya Krushelnytska in Lviv is considered one of the most beautiful theaters in Europe, along with the Odesa and Vienna opera houses.

The facade of the building is decorated with sculptural figures "Life" and "Art", statues "Glory", "Victory", "Love". The theater was designed in such a way that the lobby, corridors and stairs were illuminated with natural light as much as possible. One of the most beautiful interiors is a mirrored hall decorated with paintings depicting the symbolic change of seasons. A large chandelier in the hall made of precious materials is decorated with allegorical figures.

On the second floor, the personal apartments of Emperor Frants Yosyf with a bathroom and access to the imperial (now presidential) box have been preserved.

The aristocratic coffee shop "Komaryk" works.

Excursions are conducted.

The National Memorial Museum of Victims of Occupation Regimes "Prison at Lontskoho" was opened in Lviv in a building that for 85 years was occupied by the punitive bodies of various authorities.

The complex at the intersection of modern Bandery and Kopernika streets was built at the end of the 19th century for the Austrian gendarmerie. Then the prisons of the Polish, German and Soviet authorities were located in the building. In 1941, the largest number of political prisoners in Western Ukraine was destroyed here - 1,645. During the German occupation, the Gestapo prison was housed in the building. After the Second World War, it was used by the Soviet punitive and repressive authorities to hold captured rebels. After the declaration of Ukraine's independence, the detention center of the SBU was located here.

The museum complex "Prison at Lontskoho" was opened by the Liberation Movement Research Center and the Security Service of Ukraine. An authentic prison setting has been recreated. The complex includes a solitary confinement cell, a death row cell, and an investigator's office. Declassified "shooting lists" are presented, as well as the archive file of one of the most famous prisoners - Father Mykola Khmilevskyi, head of the underground Greek Catholic Church and member of the Ukrainian Main Liberation Council.

Excursions are conducted by appointment.

The Basilian Monastery of the Nativity of Christ with the rich Baroque Church of the Sacred Heart of Christ was built in Zhovkva in 1612 on the site of the wooden Basilian Church.

The first abbot was Metropolitan Dosytheus, buried in the crypt under the church. Initially, the complex was built in the Renaissance style and had a defensive character. The reconstruction carried out in 1905 completely changed its appearance. The Renaissance carved white stone southern portal has been preserved since the 17th century.

The wonderful iconostasis of the work of the famous master Ivan Rutkovich is now kept in the National Museum named after Andrey Sheptytskyi in Lviv. Modernist wall paintings of 1911-1939 have been preserved in the interior. the works of Yulian Butsmanyuk, which, in particular, depict figures of the Ukrainian People's Republic of Ukraine and the West Ukrainian People's Republic. The portrait of Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytskyi can be guessed in the image of Savaof.

The relics of Saint Parthenius are kept in the Church of the Heart of Christ.

The Greek Catholic Church of the Nativity of the Holy Virgin in Sambir was built in 1728 at the expense of the Komarnytsky magnates on the site of the first wooden Ukrainian church, which the Polish authorities allowed to be built inside the city in 1558.

The paintings were done by the icon painter Martyn Yablonskyi. The miraculous Sambir icon of the Mother of God, which is considered one of the oldest in Ukraine (crowned in 1928 by Pope Pius XI), was transferred from the old one to the new church. After the Second World War, the icon was considered lost, but in 1996 it was found, restored and returned to the church.

Tourists are more attracted by the fact that the relics of Saint Valentine - the patron saint of lovers - are kept in the Church of the Nativity of the Holy Virgin. In 1759, the Holy Relics, which previously rested in the cemetery of Saint Priscilla in Rome, were transferred by the Vatican to Sambir for safekeeping. The authenticity of the relic is confirmed by a document of the Pope. On Valentine's Day and the Epiphany, relics are carried around the temple and displayed on a tetrapod for a week for general veneration.

Olesko Castle, which is part of the "Golden Horseshoe of Lviv Region", is one of the most famous castles in Ukraine. It is considered the only surviving stone fortress from the times of Ancient Rus' in Ukraine.

The medieval castle rises above the town of Olesko on a 50-meter hill, it is clearly visible from the road. Built in the XIII-XIV centuries. Galician-Volyn princes. The castle was first mentioned in 1327, when it became the property of Prince Yuriy II Boleslav. In the Middle Ages, the fortress was repeatedly attacked by Tatars, destroyed and rebuilt.

In the XVII century. Olesko Castle was owned by the magnates Danylovychs, who rebuilt it in its current form. In 1629 the grandson of Yan Danylovych, the future King of Poland Yan III Sobeskyi, was born here. Mykhaylo Khmil, Bohdan Khmelnytsky's father, served here.

The restoration of the castle after a strong earthquake in 1882 was carried out by the Polish Society for the Guardianship of the Castle in Olesko.

Since the 1970s, a branch of the Lviv National Art Gallery has been housed in Olesko Castle. In particular, the exhibition presents works by world-famous Ukrainian sculptor Ivan Pinzel.

The pearl of the collection is a huge (7.65 m x 7.3 m) battle canvas by Martino Altomonte "Battle of Vienna".

On the slopes of the hill is an Italian park with ancient and modern sculptures.

The magnificent monastic complex of the origin of the tree of the Cross of God (the former Dominican monastery) in the magnificent baroque style rises above Rozhenytsia Mountain on the outskirts of the village of Pidkamin.

The current architectural ensemble was formed in the 17th-18th centuries, however, according to one of the versions, the monastery was founded by Kyiv-Pechers monks back in the 13th century. The first mention of the wooden monastery of the Dominican Catholic order dates back to 1464, but it was soon burned down by the Tatars.

In 1612, the architect Pavlo Hizhitskyi and the engineer Hristian Dahlke began the construction of a new defensive monastery complex, which lasted for more than 80 years. The complex is dominated by the Church of the Ascension with a tall tower with a baroque spire, which can be seen from Pochaiv. The cells are adjacent to it, the bell tower, the chapel of Saint John Nepomuk (now the church of the New Martyr Nicholas) is located nearby. The complex is surrounded by walls with towers and bastions. In the center of the yard is a Corinthian column with the figure of the Mother of God (1719), and there is a 100-meter well on the territory. The monastery had a complex title - the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Cross of the God, the Apostles Peter and Paul and all the Saints. The main shrine was the miraculous icon of Our Lady of the Snows, which is now in Wroclaw.

In 1944, the monastery was closed by the Soviet authorities, a concentration camp for Ukrainian clergy was organized on the territory, where, in particular, Mykola Tsehelskyi, proclaimed a blessed martyr of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, was held. Later, a closed psychoneurological boarding school was established within the monastery walls, and the church was turned into a stable and even later into a garage. Grain was stored in one chapel, mineral fertilizers in another, and prison guard dogs were fed in another.

In 1997, the revival began with the efforts of a small brotherhood of Greek-Catholic monks of the Studite statute, and restoration is underway. In October 2022, the monastery bell tower restored with the funds of the European Union was consecrated.

The three-storey townhouse at the corner of Rynok Square and Stavropihiyska Street is one of the oldest buildings in the central part of Lviv.

Built in the style of the late Renaissance in 1593. It was in this house that the wealthy Florentine merchant Roberto Bandinelli in 1629 opened the first post office in Lviv. Later the owners were local Armenians, Austrians and Poles.

Now "Palazzo Bandinelli" is a department of the Lviv Historical Museum, which recreates the residential interiors typical of the life of wealthy Lviv residents of the XVII-XVIII centuries.

For the attention of visitors - a hall for ceremonial receptions, and also enfilades of rooms: a drawing room, a gallery of a front portrait, an office, a dining room, etc. The rooms exhibit samples of handmade furniture, porcelain and earthenware from Europe, China and Japan, a collection of silverware, paintings.

The decoration of the collection is woven wallpaper, made to order by King Louis XVI of France. Of great interest is the interior of the kitchen, where samples of antique metal utensils are collected.

Earlier, the Palazzo Bandinelli housed the Royal Mail Museum, which told about the development of the postal service in Galicia, the construction of postal tracts, the opening of post offices with hotels, the emergence of stagecoaches and postmen.

The architectural ensemble of Lviv's main shopping square began to take shape in the 14th century in the style of European medieval cities (before that, the Stariy Rynok (Old Market) was the shopping center).

Market Square (Rynok square) is surrounded on four sides by 44 houses (apartments), different in time of construction and style (Renaissance, Baroque, Empire). Architects Petro Krasovskyi, Martyn Hradovskyi, Petro Barbon, Pavlo Rimlyanin, Bernard Meretyn, Sebastian Fesinger and others worked on the building.

Elements of Gothic architecture of the XV-XVI centuries have been preserved in the basements and first floors of many buildings. They are home to museums, shops and popular cafes. The Lviv Historical Museum occupies the most interesting buildings ("Black Stone House", "Royal Stone House" and others).

The Lviv City Hall (1381-1827) in the center of the square is a symbol of the city. The building is used for its intended purpose - it houses the city government. The Lviv Information and Tourist Center is located on the first floor of City Hall, providing tourists with information, maps and guidebooks.

There are always many tourists on Rynok Square in Lviv, especially on the days of numerous holidays and festivals.

The Roman Catholic Church of Saint Bartholomew was founded in Drohobych in 1392 by the Polish king Vladyslav II Yahaylo, but it was consecrated only in 1511.

The massive Gothic building of the church was built on the basis of the princely palace of the Galicia-Volyn principality. A powerful defense tower located nearby, which was part of the city fortifications on Castle Hill, began to serve as the bell of the church. Over the centuries, the building was rebuilt several times.

In Soviet times, the church premises were used as a warehouse. In 1989, the temple was returned to the Roman Catholic community of the city.

Gothic white stone portals, wall paintings and stained-glass windows of the 19th century based on drawings by famous artists Yan Mateyko, Stanislav Vyspyansky and Yuzef Mehoffer have been preserved in the interiors.

The walls are reinforced with buttresses. On the northern wall of the church there are unusual white stone reliefs - three windows depicting a palm, foot and head in a papal tiara. Some sources call them symbols of Catholic rule, others consider these symbols to be pagan.

The marble decoration of the door with two swords reminds of the inhabitants of the city who died in the Battle of Grunwald.