Attractions of Sambir district

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.

Defensive Catholic Church of the Martyrdom of Saint John the Baptist in Sambir, built in the 16th century according to the project of architect Yuzef Tarnovchyk instead of a wooden church that burned down, has survived to our days after several reconstructions.

The largest was held after the fire in 1642. The architecture of the church combines Gothic and Renaissance features. It is the tallest and grandest building in the city.

The church is distinguished by its rich interior decoration. The Neo-Gothic organ, mounted in 1888 by the firm of Yan Slivinskyi from Lviv, has been preserved.

In 2007, a monument to Pope Ioann Paul II was erected in front of the church of Saint John the Baptist.

The first wooden town hall was built in Sambir back in 1390, after the city received Magdeburg law.

The stone building on the current site was built in 1580, but half a century later it burned down during a fire. Only the basement premises were preserved, which became the basis for the construction of the current town hall.

The construction of the two-story building in the Renaissance style with a high 40-meter tower was completed in 1670. At the same time, the numbers "1606" are placed above one of the entrances, which gives reason to some researchers to consider the Sambir town hall as the oldest in Ukraine.

In 1844, a major reconstruction was carried out. The tower clock by the Prague master Heinz, which is still running, was installed on the tower in 1885 in place of a broken old clock.

The Sambir Town Hall still serves its purpose - it houses the state authorities: the City Hall and the City Council of People's Deputies.

The memorial museum of Les Kurbas in Sambir was opened in 1993 in the house where the future actor and director was born in 1887.

Kurbas was the founder of the national Western Ukrainian theater school and the creator of the famous theater-academy "Berezil".

The museum's collection includes 5,594 items: a bust of Les Kurbas by the sculptor Mykola Posikira, a bas-relief board by the sculptor Emmanuyil Mysko, paintings by Mykhaylo Yaremkiv, Stepan Muryash, Lesya Fryntsko and others.

Selections of theatrical photographs, embroidered napkins, etc. are presented.

The church-sanctuary of the Assumption of the Holy Virgin was built in Rudky in 1728 at the expense of the Urbanski family on the site of an earlier, wooden church, which was founded in the 14th century and was rebuilt several times.

It housed the ancient miracle-working icon of Our Lady of Rudkivska, known as the "Queen of Beschad". After the icon was crowned by the Pope in 1921, the Church of the Assumption in Rudky became one of the most revered sacred buildings in pre-war Poland. In 1946, the icon was exported to Poland (only a copy was returned to the church in 1995).

A bell tower of the 17th century, which remained from the time of the wooden temple, has been preserved nearby.

The church houses the tomb of the family of the famous Polish playwright Aleksander Fredro, whose estate was located in the nearby village of Vyshneve.

The Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Turka was built in 1779 on the site of the first wooden Roman Catholic church, which was founded in 1730 on the initiative of the magnate Antoniya Kalynovsky, who owned the city at that time.

Kalynovsky invited the Jesuit fathers to Turka and entrusted them with the care of the city's small Catholic parish. In 1749, the Jesuit order was liquidated by the Austrian government and the Church of the Assumption became a parish church.

In 1906-1914, reconstruction was carried out according to the project of Stanislav Mayerskyi. After the Soviet period of desolation, in 1992 the Church of the Assumption was returned to Turka Roman Catholics.

The monastery of the Brigids sisters was founded in Sambir in 1621 by the Polish magnate Mykola Danylovych from Zhuriv.

On the hill at the intersection of today's Ivana Franko and Stepana Bandery streets, he erected a brick and stone monastery, a church, and farm buildings. The complex was surrounded by walls and moats, had a defensive tower, and therefore it was included in the defense system of the city. The monastery complex is built in the form of a horseshoe - the southern shoulder forms a church, and the western and northern - monastery premises.

In 1782, the Austrian authorities liquidated the Brigids monastery, military warehouses and stores were placed in its premises. Since 1946, a sewing factory has been located in the monastery buildings, and a military hospital has been located in the pompous building of the treasury, which was added to them in 1905.

The city hall in the center of the Rynok Square of the city of Turka was built in 1907 on the site of the old wooden building of the magistrate.

Turka received the right to self-government in 1730. The new building of the city hall is made in the Art Nouveau style. It is still used for its purpose - it houses the Turka City Council.

Also in the town hall is the People's Museum "Boykivshchyna", which tells about the history and culture of this region. Permanent expositions: "History of Turka from ancient times to the present day", "Ethnography: clothing, household items", "Work tools in subsistence farming", "Room of the ethnographer Mykhaylo Zubrytsky", "Ukrainian diaspora".

A large three-story building in the style of classicism, which now houses the Sambir branch of the Drohobych Pedagogical University, is considered one of the best buildings of old Sambir.

It was built in 1909 as a county courthouse on the site of the liquidated Bernardine monastery. A prison (now a correctional center) was built near the court. At the entrance to the prison, there is a monument to the victims of the Bolshevik terror, dedicated in particular to the political prisoners shot in the Sambir prison in 1941 before the retreat of the Red Army.

During Soviet times, the building of the county court was in the hands of the military. In 1999, the Faculty of Social and Humanities of Ivan Franko Drohobych Pedagogical University was opened there. There is a bust of Ivan Franko in front of the entrance to the building, and the square is named after the writer.

The Dobromyl town hall was built in the 18th century in the Renaissance style. A clock was installed on the clock tower in 1883, which is still working.

On the facade of the town hall is the family coat of arms of the Herburts - a green apple pierced with three swords.

Since the 19th century, the estate in the village of Vyshnia belonged to the Polish comedian Aleksander Fredro, the grandfather of Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky, one of the most respected heads of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.

The Neo-Renaissance palace, built in 1835, a wing with a tower, a park with a pond, and farm buildings have survived to this day. Today, an agricultural college is located here.

The magnificent stucco in the exterior and interior decoration, ancient stairs, several tiled stoves, and bookcases from the writer's library have been preserved in the palace.

The room-museum of Aleksander Fredro and Andrey Sheptytsky was opened. The exposition presents original furniture, as well as a model of the palace, made by students of the Warsaw Polytechnic.

The Dobromyl castle of the Herburt family is located in the middle of a beech forest on the Blind Mountain (Slipa Hora, 566 meters), 3 kilometers south of Dobromyl.

Lviv castelian Stanislav Herburt began to build it from stone and brick in 1566 on the site of a wooden fortification founded in 1450 by Mykola Herburt, but soon burned by the Tatars. In 1614, Yan Shchasny Herburt thoroughly rebuilt the fortress. The oval shape of the Dobromyl castle in plan corresponded to the outline of the mountain.

The ruins of the northwestern part have been preserved, consisting of the remains of a massive multifaceted tower (internal diameter of about 17 meters) and fragments of walls diverging from it, 25-26 meters long. The tower is two-story with an entrance gate. In the first tier of the tower, loopholes with arched lintels are placed on two levels. The second tier is separated by a small ledge. Its walls are pierced with rectangular windows. The tower is completed by a high attic with a decorative blind arcade, similar to the attic of the castle in Stare Selo. The defensive walls are completed with the same attic, the top of which is at the level of the second tier of the tower. The Renaissance attic somewhat softens the harsh appearance of the powerful walls (thickness reaches 2 meters). The loopholes of the lower tier of the tower with large chambers (internal) and side holes in the cheeks were intended for conducting cross fire.

The castle has been abandoned since the 18th century. Unlike other castles of the palace type, it had exclusively defensive significance, and the living quarters were used only for temporary residence.

The first museum of the "Boykivshchyna" society in Sambir was organized in 1927 and is dedicated to the history and culture of the native inhabitants of the Boykiv region, whose informal capital is Sambir.

During the Soviet era, the museum was closed. Restored in 1990 as the Historical and Ethnographic Museum "Boykivshchyna".

Located in the former building of the parish school, built in 1679 on the foundations of the 16th century.

Permanent expositions: "Material and economic culture of the Boyki", "Family of Kozakevych" (one of the most ancient Sambir tribes), "Struggle for Ukrainian statehood in Sambir region and Boyki region".

In 2023, the Pharmacy-Museum "Under the Star" was opened in two halls of the "Boykivshchyna" museum, which tells about the history of medicine in the Boykivshchyna region. In the first hall, the interior of a classic city pharmacy of the XIX-XX centuries is recreated, glass and ceramic containers for medicines, various pharmaceutical equipment are presented. The second hall is designed as a witch doctor's room.

Workshops on painting Easter eggs are held.

The collegium at the Jesuit monastery was founded in Sambir in 1680.

Hetman Petro Sahaydachniy studied here.

The current Baroque building was built in 1756-1759 by the architect Karshnytskiy.

Later, the Jesuit college was transformed into a gymnasium. Now it is the Sambir College of Culture.

The Museum of Folk Life is organized by a local priest, the collection is exhibited in the premises of the architectural monument - the wooden bell tower of the Saint Michael's Church (1730).

The three-tiered belfry is considered a monument of Hutsul wooden architecture.

Various tools, dishes, looms, folk clothes, furniture are presented in the museum. On the second floor - an exhibition of icons and embroidered banners.

Excursions are conducted by the priest of the nearby Saint Michael's Church (1902).