Attractions of Volyn region

Lake Svitiaz is the largest of the three dozen lakes of the Shatsky National Nature Park. This is the deepest karst lake in Ukraine (maximum depth - 58.4 meters).

Lake Svitiaz is fed by artesian springs. Its water is crystal clear and soft, which is due to the natural self-cleaning system. It contains silver, glycerin and some minerals, thanks to which it is considered healing.

In the middle of the lake there is an extremely picturesque wooded island, which is connected with the legend of the castle that disappeared under the waters of the lake.

Along the shores of the lake there are many mini-hotels, recreation centers and car camping sites. In the windless season, the water warms up quickly, so parents and children like to relax here. Active recreation is organized on site: horseback riding and hiking, excursions to the island with fishing and soup cooking.

The main delicacy of Svitiaz is local eel, which is especially recommended to be tasted in smoked form.

The Literary and Memorial Manor-Museum of Lesya Ukrayinka (Larysa Kosach) was opened on the territory of the Kosach family manor in the village of Kolodiazhne near Kovel.

The future poetess spent her childhood and youth here, from 1882 to 1897. Her talent was formed under the influence of the legends of the Volyn region, which were told to her by her mother - the writer Olena Pchilka (Olha Kosach). Here Lesya Ukrayinka began her creative career, writing about 80 works: "Lily of water", "Safo", "Mermaid", "Singer", "Prisoner" and others.

The "White House" with a solarium on the roof of the veranda, built especially for Lesya by her father - Petro Kosach, as well as the "Grey House" of the father himself have been preserved. In the houses, the authentic atmosphere is recreated, and personal belongings of the Kosach are presented.

The Lesya Ukrayinka Literary and Memorial Museum is now located on the site of the large manor house.

A 19th-century building in the center of Lutsk, next to Lubart's Castle, where the Kosach literary family lived in 1890-1891.

This was the last period of her stay in the city of Lesya Ukrayinka, who was already seriously ill at that time. The office apartment of Petro Kosach (Lesya's father) was located on the second floor.

In 2007, the Lesyna Living Room Museum was opened here. You can get to the museum by prior arrangement with the administration.

Here is the office of the Historical and Cultural Reserve "Old Town".

Lutsk Castle of Prince Lubart is one of the most powerful fortresses in Volyn, a business card of Lutsk.

The upper castle existed on top of the hill since the time of the Ryurykovychi.

In its present form, a typical European medieval feudal castle was built in 1340-1385 by the Lithuanian-Rus prince Lubart. It became the residence of the Volyn princes, and for some time - the capital of the Galicia-Volyn state. Fortified in 1430-1542 during the reign of Prince Svydryhaylo.

The Lutsk Castle complex includes the Entrance, Styrova and Vladycha Towers, surrounded by walls. Inside are the noble and episcopal houses. The foundations and dungeons of the Cathedral of Saint John the Theologian of the 12th century, in which Prince Lubart and many other Volyn rulers were buried, have been preserved.

Several museums have been opened on the territory of Lutsk Castle: paintings, bells, building ceramics, printing, weapons. The castle is constantly being restored, archeological excavations are being carried out on the territory.

The Lutheran church was built on the site of a burned Carmelite church in 1905-1907 as a Protestant church for German colonists who moved to Lutsk at the end of the 19th century.

The church was built in the neo-Gothic style by the architect Khrystyan Boytelspakher at the expense of the German community.

After the Second World War, the damaged church was rebuilt for the needs of the city archive.

In 1991, the restoration began, and since 1994, the Baptist church "House of the Gospel" has held services here. A Sunday school was opened there.

The Lutsk Brotherhood History Museum is one of the youngest museums in Lutsk. It opened in 2011 in the former premises of the Orthodox monastery of the Exaltation of the Holy and Life-giving Cross of the Lord next to the Church of the Exaltation of the Cross.

The museum is devoted to the history of the Khrestovozdvizhensky Orthodox brotherhood of laymen and clergy, which operated in Lutsk in the 17th-18th and 19th-20th centuries. Among its founders and patrons was, in particular, the founder of the Kyiv Fraternal School Halshka Hulevychivna, and among the prominent brothers - Hetman Ivan Vyhovsky. The purpose of the activity of the brotherhood was the revival of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which fell into disrepair after the Union of Brest in 1596.

The exposition of the museum consists of 12 thematic sections, which present monastery furniture, original items of church use, old prints of the 17th-19th centuries from the library of the Lutsk brotherhood, documents on the financial activities of the brothers, metric books of the Ascension of Cross fraternal Church.

The Museum of the History of the Lutsk Brotherhood is a department of the Volyn Local History Museum. The church has been restored and is used by the Volyn Regional Brotherhood of Andriy the First-Called, which is the successor of the Lutsk Brotherhood of the Holy Cross. Temple crypts are available for inspection.

The Volyn Icon Museum in Lutsk represents the regional school of Volyn icon painting.

The creation of the collection is associated with the name of art critic Pavlo Zholtovsky, who led the scientific expeditions of the Volyn Museum of Local Lore in the 1980s to study and collect historical and cultural material in the temples of Volyn.

The exhibition presents more than 1.5 thousand works of sacred art, including about 600 icons of the Volyn art school of the XVI-XVIII centuries, works of metal, decorative carvings and sculptures.

One of the most valuable exhibits is the Byzantine icon of the Kholm Mother of God (XI-XII centuries). According to legend, it was written in Jerusalem by the apostle-evangelist Luke. It was the ancestral shrine of Prince Danylo Halytsky.

The Church of the Nativity of the Holy Virgin in Shatsk was built in 1830-1839 on the site of a wooden Orthodox church founded in 1510.

Count Vladyslav Branytsky allocated the funds for the construction.

The Church of the Nativity of the Virgin has characteristic features of classicism. At the same time, it is distinguished by two symmetrically located towers and the gradual increase of the mass in the western direction, which makes it similar to the two-towered churches of the Baroque era.

The defense tower of Chortoriysky and a fragment of the fortress wall are the remains of the fortifications of the Okolny Castle, which in the Middle Ages strengthened the Upper Castle from the south and west.

It was surrounded by a stone wall with four towers on the eastern, southern and western sides. The entrance to the territory was carried out with the help of a bridge thrown over a moat that was filled with water (it ran along the current Mykhayla Drahomanova Street).

In the 18th and 19th centuries, the fortifications were gradually dismantled, and the ditches were filled in. Only one tower has survived, named after the Chortoriysky princes who owned Lutsk in the XV-XVI centuries. Currently, the tower is adjacent to the building of the Jesuit monastery by a wall, it can be viewed only from the inner courtyards on the side of Drahomanova Street.

Also, the system of fortifications of the Okolny Castle included a defensive synagogue (33 Danyla Halytskoho Street), nicknamed the "Small Castle". Built in 1622-1629. A square five-level tower with loopholes adjoins it from the southwest. Currently, the building is occupied by the children's sports school "Young Dinamo".

In July 2023, a museum space was opened on the territory of the Okolny Castle, which includes the tower of the Chortoriysky princes, the dungeons of the Jesuit collegium, and a fragment of the defensive wall.

Okonsky springs are a geological monument of nature in Volyn near Manevychi.

In the center of a small lake with a depth of 3 meters, two powerful keys strike, forming cup-shaped domes on the surface. Here, karst waters come under pressure to the surface of the earth. The water in Lake Oknyshche never freezes and has a constant temperature of +7-9°С (such lakes have long been called windows (okno). In severe frosts, steam always swirls above them. The Okinka River flows from the lakes.

The spring has very clean and tasty water, but its medicinal properties have not yet been confirmed.

Near the lake there are ponds where trout are bred.

The ancestral castle of the Radzyvill princes was built by Mykola Radzyvill "Black" (Cornyi) in 1558. It was one of the first square bastion castles in Ukraine. Its area was 2.7 hectares, the palace had 365 rooms, as well as days in a year.

During the years 1591-1648, the Olyka castle withstood many sieges, but was captured only once - by the Swedes in 1702. By the end of the 18th century, it lost its defensive significance, but until the middle of the 20th century, it remained the residence of the Radzyvills.

In 1737-1755, Mykhaylo Kazymyr "Rybka" Radzyvill carried out reconstruction. A three-story palace appeared on the territory, the northwestern gate was decorated with a two-story tower with a clock.

The last owner of the castle was Yanush Radzyvill, who was arrested in 1939 by the Bolsheviks and sent to Stalinist camps for several years.

During Soviet times, the regional psychiatric hospital No. 2 was located on the territory of the castle.

Today, the Olyka Radzyvill Castle is a department of the Volyn Museum of Local Lore.

The Catholic parish of Saint Anna was founded in Kovel in the 16th century with the help of Queen Bona. She was supported by King Yan Kazymyr, many local magnates.

Initially, the wooden church was located next to the Church of the Annunciation. The temple was destroyed during the War of Liberation, in 1710 it was rebuilt by Volyn voivode Stanislav Leshchynskyi, then it burned down in a fire, but was revived again and lasted until 1945, when it was dismantled by order of the Soviet authorities.

In 1996, a new Roman Catholic church appeared on the site of the former car park - the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, built in 1771, moved from the village of Vyshenki. This is the only two-tower wooden Catholic church in Volyn. Consecration took place in 1996.

Currently, the church of Saint Anna is under the care of the Catholic order of the Friars Minor of Saint Francis of Assisi in Kovel.

Saint Basil's Rotunda Church is a unique example of Orthodox architecture. The name of the architect Oleksa, who built the temple, is mentioned in the Galician-Volyn Chronicle.

Elements of Gothic architecture can be traced in the structural and technical solution, in particular the eight-petal ceiling.

In 1901, a Russian-style bathhouse was built on top, which changed the look of the church beyond recognition.

The Church of Saints Peter and Paul in Olyka is one of the oldest Catholic churches in Volyn.

It was built in 1450 by the Lithuanian hetman Petro Bilyi. In 1560, Prince Mykola Radzyvill Chorny, who converted from Lutheranism to Calvinism, handed over the Olyka church to the evangelists. However, Calvinist teachings, which helped the Polish nobility in their struggle with the clergy for political reform, were soon suppressed, and the Peter and Paul Church was returned to the Catholics.

Reconstructed in 1612, it was used as a chapel. The facade of the small temple is made in early baroque forms.

Located in the old cemetery.

The wooden church of Saint Stephen (according to other sources - the Apostle and Evangelist Luke) was built in Usychi at the end of the 18th century.

The three-log, one-headed temple stands on a stone foundation. It is a characteristic landmark of Volyn folk architecture.

The main shrine was an oval-shaped icon of the Nativity of Christ, which is now kept in the Volyn Icon Museum in Lutsk.