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 Volyn Icon Museum in Lutsk represents the regional school of Volyn icon painting, which is distinguished by its original character, style, and manner of execution of icons.

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 memorial museum of Vyacheslav Lypynsky in Zaturtsi was opened in 2011 in the restored manor house of the ancestral estate of the Lypynsky noble family.

The house was built in 1871, and a park was built around it. In 1882, Vyacheslav Lypynsky, an outstanding Ukrainian historian and public figure, was born here. He spent his childhood and youth here.

A unique collection of personal belongings and documents of Vyacheslav Lypynsky and his family was collected thanks to his relatives living abroad.

First editions of the historian's works, various documents (matriculation certificate, track record, diploma of hetman Pavlo Skoropadsky), portraits of family members are presented. Fragments of the interiors of the building have been reproduced: "Serhiy Lypynsky's Cabinet", "Living Room", "Vyacheslav Lypynsky's Cabinet".

The Vyacheslav Lypynsky Memorial Museum in Zaturtsy is a department of the Volyn Museum of Local Lore.

Zymne Assumption Monastery at the Holy Mountain is one of the oldest Orthodox monasteries in Ukraine.

According to legend, the Zymne Monastery was founded in 1073 by the Kyiv-Pechersk monk Varlaam at the winter residence of the Volodymyr princes, founded in 1001 by Prince Volodymyr the Great on Holy Mountain near the city of Volodymyr. The cave church of Varlaam Pecherskyi and "Terem Volodymyr" have been preserved.

The complex is dominated by the majestic Trinity Church (1465-1475), as well as the Assumption Church (1495-1550).

The monastery is surrounded by defensive walls with corner towers under tented roofs, built in the XV-XVI centuries by the patrons of the monastery, the Chartoriysky princes. The 720-kilogram Chartoriysky bell is kept on the territory.

The remains of many Volodymyr bishops, for whom Zymne served as a country residence, rest in underground crypts.

The main shrine of the Monastery at the Holy Mountain is the miraculous Zymne icon of the Mother of God, which, according to legend, was presented to the monastery by Prince Volodymyr the Great. A monument to Saint Volodymyr the Baptist was installed in the yard.

The monastery has a pilgrimage complex with a hotel, a bakery and prosphora, a gold sewing workshop, and an icon bench. Nuns conduct tours.

The only wing of the palace built in Liuboml by Count Frantsysk Ksaveriy Branytsky after he received these lands in 1768 as a reward for his service from the Polish king Stanislav Avhust Ponyatovsky remains.

In 1782, he completed the construction of his residence in Liuboml, next to Castle Hill. It was a large palace complex consisting of the main palace building, a pair of two-story outbuildings, and a one-story gallery with a winter garden. A large garden surrounded by a stone fence was laid to the north of the palace.

At the end of the 18th century, after the Kostyushko uprising, Branytsky and his wife Oleksandra moved to Bila Tserkva, where they built the famous Oleksandria Park.

The last owner of the palace in Liuboml was the family of landowners Kappioni.

During the Soviet rule, the building was in the hands of the military and was partially dismantled. A children's and youth sports school is located in the wing.

The center of traditional culture "Honey House" (Medova Khata) was opened in Lutsk on the initiative of the Volyn brotherhood of beekeepers "Swarm condition" (Royovyy stan).

The center tells about the ancient culture of beekeeping, production and use of honey and honey cosmetics. Two halls for 50 seats.

There are tours with tastings.

Beekeeping products are offered: honey of different grades, honey drinks (mead, drinking honey), cosmetics, apitherapy products.

The entrance gate and the landscape park were preserved from the estate founded in Liubeshiv by Mykhaylo Servatsiy Vyshnevetskyi in the 18th century.

Later, the manor belonged to the Zamoyskis, the Mnisheks, until in 1754 it became the property of the Bratslav castellan Yan Antoniy Charnetsky. His descendants owned the manor until the Second World War.

The Charnetsky Palace did not survive the period of Soviet rule. Now you can see only the baroque stone gates and the abandoned park on the banks of the Stohid river, in which 80 species of trees and shrubs grow. The park is part of the protected area of the Prypyat-Stokhid National Nature Park.

The picturesque Nechimne tract with a lake in the middle of a protected forest near the village of Skulyn in Volyn is vividly described by Lesya Ukrainka in her poem "Forest Song". It is here that the main events of this famous drama-extravaganza about the relations of local residents with the "forest people" take place.

At the end of the 19th century, there was a forest estate here, in which young Lesya spent the summer months visiting Uncle Lev - the prototype of one of the characters in the poem. It was from him that the future poetess heard many fairy tales about seagulls, mermaids, foresters and other characters of Volyn folk folklore.

In the 1960s, the first literary and artistic festival was held in the Nechimne tract. Among the visitors was Maksym Rylsky, and Lviv students staged "Forest Song" right on the shore of the lake. Since 2000, the traditional poetic and artistic festival "Forest Song" has been held here every year on the first Saturday and Sunday of August.

Currently, the "Forest Song" museum operates in the Nechimnoye tract, which is a branch of the Kolodyazhnensky Literary and Memorial Museum of Lesya Ukrainka "Kosach Manor". Uncle Lev's well has been preserved on the territory, and a gallery of wooden sculptures is presented. The lake itself is almost completely overgrown, and cleaning work is carried out occasionally.

The entrance Lutsk Gate is the only building of the once powerful external city fortifications of Olyka that has survived.

It was built in the 30s of the 17th century. The fortifications included earth ramparts, walls and two gates. The two-level tower of the Lutsk Gate is characterized by loopholes in the form of an inverted keyhole.

The restoration of the Lutsk Gate is underway.

The Cathedral of the Nativity of Christ is located in the center of Volodymyr.

It was built as a Jesuit church of the Sending of the Apostles within the boundaries of the surrounding town in 1755 by the Slonim elder Hnat Sadovskyi. The construction of the church in the late Baroque style lasted 15 years. In 1762, the Jesuit church acquired the status of the "Heart of Jesus" monastery. After the abolition of the Jesuit Order, the church was transferred to the Basilian Order, and in 1840 the monastery became Orthodox and was the residence of bishops. In 1921, it again came under the control of the Roman Catholic diocese.

Injured during the Second World War. Currently restored, it is the Orthodox Cathedral of the Nativity of Christ of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

The Peter and Paul Church on the banks of the Svitiaz was founded in 1531 under the Sangushko princes.

From 1596 to 1796, the church was Greek Catholic.

After the fire of 1834, it was decided to build a new stone temple. Count Vladyslav Branytsky allocated the funds for the construction. In 1846, the Peter and Paul Church was consecrated.

The temple is based on a three-part scheme traditional for Ukraine, transformed under the influence of classicism into a central rotunda composition. The developed monumental dome subordinates all parts of the building, forming a silhouette characteristic of Volyn.

To the south of the church is an arched belfry topped by a triangular pediment.

During the Soviet rule, the Svitiaz church was not closed.

In 2001, the Pochaiv Icon of the Mother of God was installed in the church, the number of pilgrims increased, and in 2002, the Svitiaz Saint Peter and Paul Monastery was founded.

One of the oldest residential buildings in Lutsk, known as the "House of Peter I", is located next to the pedestrian street of Lesya Ukrainka, on the former outskirts of the old city. Despite repeated reconstructions, it retains its archaic appearance.

On the site of this building, since 1227, there was a Vasylivsky Monastery, founded by Prince Vasylko Romanovich, which existed until 1607. Sviatovasylivska Street is named in his honor.

There is no exact information about the date of construction of the residential building on the site of the monastery, but it certainly existed in the 17th century. According to legend, in 1709, the Moscow Tsar Peter I stayed there on his way to Poland. Previously, this was announced by a memorial plaque, which was removed during the decommunization and decolonization of Lutsk.

The one-story brick house was built according to the principle of "a house in two halves" under a hipped roof. The left wing has retained its original appearance, while the right wing was significantly rebuilt in the 19th century. The main dominant of the central facade is a four-column Doric order portal with two side staircases and a platform above the entrance to the cellar.

During Soviet times, the "Peter I House" housed the city sanitary and epidemiological station, and a cafe-bar was located in the basement.

Saint George's Church in Holoby is a monument of the transitional type from baroque to classicism with a traditional wooden bell tower in the forms of folk architecture of Volyn.

The church was built as a Greek-Catholic church in 1783 at the expense of magnate Lyudvik Vilha. In 1885, the tiled roof was replaced with an iron one. The church is brick, plastered, single nave, with a pentagonal apse and two towers on the western facade. The towers are two-story, finished with onion domes. Covered with a wooden ceiling in the 19th century, which replaced the original vaults.

To the southwest of Ssint. George's Church, there is a two-story wooden bell tower. The first tier is chopped, the second is frame, in the form of an open circular arcade. Shingle roof. The composition of the belfry is typical of the Volyn wooden architecture of the XVII-XVIII centuries.

The chapel of Saint Tekla is located on a small mound on the western edge of the city of Berestechko.

The mound was built in memory of the tragedies of 1658, when the Tatars destroyed the city and captured 750 of its inhabitants, including 43 nuns of a Catholic monastery with an abbess named Teklya. According to legend, about half a thousand captured girls (Ukrainian and Polish girls) refused to follow the invaders and were executed, and the Tatars used their bodies to make a way for passage through the swamp.

The chapel, built in 1698 on the grave of tortured girls, was named after the first martyr Saint Tekla.

The park of the Vilha tycoons manor in Holoby is located right along the Kovel - Lutsk highway.

In the 18th century, Chernihiv voivode Lyudvik Vilha built his stately residence with a park, a menagerie and a brick fence here. In the depths of the park there is a complex-shaped palace, built at the beginning of the 20th century on the site of a burned-down manor house. Only the manor gate has survived from the original buildings of the manor.

During the reconstruction of the village, the park area was cut through by a street, and the entrance gate lost its direct purpose. The gate is brick, plastered, rectangular in plan, with an archway on the first floor (laid). They are covered with a hipped roof.

Not far from the estate, on the other side of the street, there are two park sculptures of the 18th century, which are a clear example of Volyn's monumental sculpture.