Attractions of Kamyanets-Podilskyi district

Remains of the ancient Bakota Saint Michael Rock-Cave Monastery, known since 1362, are located on the steep slope of Bila Mountain above the Bakota Bay of the Dniester. Limestone mountain rises 120 meters above the river. This is one of the most popular tourist sites of the National Nature Park "Podilskyi Tovtry".

During the study of the preserved cells and the rock monastery church, an inscription, probably from the 11th century, was discovered, which mentions the founding of the monastery by Abbot Hryhoriy in honor of Saint Michael. It is considered the oldest on the territory of Podillya. It was a part of the great ancient Rus city of Bakota, which is mentioned in the XI-XIII centuries as the most important political and administrative center of the Dniester Ponyzzia, then Podillya, which was part of the Galicia-Volyn principality.

According to legend, during the invasion of the Tatar horde, the monks who hid in the caves, refusing to renounce their faith, were stoned alive.

The revival of the monastery in the 14th century was facilitated by the Lithuanian princes Koriatovychi (Koryatovychi), however, after the uprising of 1431, Bakota lost the status of a city, and soon the mention of the monastery disappeared from the annals.

The settlement of Bakota existed until 1981, when it was completely flooded with water during the construction of the Novodnistrovskaya HPP. The collapse of White Mountain in 1996 destroyed most of the caves with ancient Russian frescoes. The few ruins of Saint Michael's Church and the remains of caves can be seen only in one place on the mountainside.

A breathtaking panorama of the Dniester opens from here.

Every year on Makovey (August 14) in the revived Bakota Michael Cave Church, festive services are held with a large number of people.

The main City Gate is one of the key elements of the defense system of the Old City of Kamyanets-Podilskyi.

It belongs to the oldest defensive structures of the city. The gate closed the entrance to Kamyanets through the Turkish Bridge from the Old Fortress.

The City Gate complex was rebuilt in 1746 by the military engineer Christian Dahlke. The entrance to the city was carried out through the Gate Tower, in the premises of which there is now a small cafe. The current passage is cut in the defensive wall. On the opposite side, there is a casemate-laboratory for testing gunpowder, which was produced at gunpowder mills on the Smotrych River. Currently, the laboratory complex houses the restaurant "Under the Gate".

A little above the gate is the Armenian bastion - a powerful hexagonal structure with large embrasures, built under the leadership of the military engineer Kamilus.

From the viewing platform above the laboratory, a classic view of the Old Fortress opens.

The two-tiered grotto in the 18-meter rock in the park of the Orlovsky estate in Maliivtsi bears the name of the legendary folk hero Ustym Karmalyuk - Karmalyuk Caves. According to legend, Karmalyuk hid in these caves from persecution by the royal authorities.

In early Slavic times, according to scientists, there was a pagan sanctuary in the caves. Later, an Orthodox monastery was founded in its place. In 1708, the Podol judge Vavrzhynets Peplovsky revived the cave monastery, which had already fallen into disrepair, as a Greek-Catholic monastery, inviting the Basilian fathers. The upper cave was named after the Nativity of John the Baptist, the lower one - Saint Onuphrius. An artificial waterfall was built above the caves.

In 1810, the monastery was closed, and in Soviet times, the church located on the upper platform was dismantled.

The Kytaihorod outcrop is one of the most complete sections of Silurian and Devonian sediments in the world, an international geological standard for outcrops of the third and fourth periods of the Paleozoic era.

Exfoliation begins on the left bank of the Ternava River and covers the entire hillside on the outskirts of the village of Kytaihorod. The area is equal to 60 hectares. It is located on the southwestern outskirts of the village of Kytaihorod, Kamyanets-Podilskyi district.

Nearby is the Kytaihorod forest - a botanical reserve of local importance. Rare species of orchid species are valuable.

The old fortress of Kamyanets-Podilskyi is one of the most outstanding monuments of fortification art of Ukraine.

It is a part of Kamyanets-Podilskyi State Historical Museum-Reserve.

Nowadays, the name "Old Castle" is most often used, although formally this fortress was a castle (residence of the feudal lord) only at the very beginning of its existence, under the princes Koriatovych (Koryatovych).

A powerful defensive junction at the entrance to the city on the main road across the bridge over the narrow isthmus of Smotrych Canyon was built in the XVI century. on the basis of ancient n fortifications of the XI-XII centuries. The old fortress consists of 11 towers: Papska (Karmalyukova), Kovpak, Tenchinska, Lyaska (Billa), Denna, New (Velyka) Western, Small Western, Rozhanka, Komendantska, Lyantskoronska Tower, New Eastern. The towers are connected by defensive walls, barracks and a siege well are located on the territory. The oldest of the towers - Denna (possibly built on the foundations of Roman fortifications).

In the XVII century. the earthen bastions of the New Fortress were added, which withstood the artillery fire more effectively. The strength of the Kamianets fortifications impressed contemporaries. The phrase of the Turkish khan Osman became winged, who in 1621 approached the walls of the fortress and asked who had strengthened it so much. "God himself," replied the khan. "Then may God take her," Osman replied, withdrawing his troops. However, in 1672 Kamianets-Podilskyi was captured by the Turkish army of Sultan Mohammed IV and the Cossacks of Petro Doroshenko.

In the western bastion of the fortress, the defense scene was reconstructed, which was led by Mykolay Potocki and during which Yuriy Volodievskyi died. People's hero Ustym Karmalyuk escaped from prison three times from the Old Fortress. The papal tower, in which he was kept, has been named after him ever since, and an exposition has been arranged in it. An exposition of light metal weapons is located in the eastern bastion.

Night excursions are conducted. The old fortress is often the scenery of numerous festivals and historical reconstructions.

The Ruska Gate (Ruska Brama) is a unique hydrotechnical fortification structure of Kamyanets-Podilskyi, which, together with the Polish Gate, formed a system for flooding the canyon of the Smotrych River in case of danger.

Construction began around 1527. The ensemble of the Ruska Gate consisted of 8 towers, a barbican and defensive walls connecting them, 230 meters long, which completely crossed a canyon 90 meters wide. There were sluices in the wall at the crossing of the river bed.

In the 16th and 17th centuries, as a result of frequent floods, the coastal fortifications of the Ruska Gate began to collapse, and by the end of the 17th and the beginning of the 18th centuries, four towers collapsed. The Clock Tower, Nadbramna, Pryvorotna, Pryberezhna towers and the Barbican have been preserved.

Currently, the restoration has been carried out. Part of the premises of the Ruska Gate is used as a creative workshop of potters, and the creation of a cultural and craft center is planned.

The building of the Polish magistrate was built in the center of Kamyanets-Podilskyi after the city was granted the Magdeburg right in 1374.

Kamyanets-Podilskyi Town Hall is considered to be the oldest in Ukraine. This is the main civil structure of the Old Town. It consists of a two-story council building and an eight-story clock tower. Initially, the building was Gothic, but later it was layered with different architectural styles.

The museum "Court of Medieval Kamyanets" with an exposition of instruments of torture was opened in the cleared part of the multi-level basements. On the ground floor there is an inexpensive cafe "Town Hall".

The Museum of the History of Magdeburg Law and the Museum of Money are located on the second floor.

Botanical reserve "Tovtra Verbetska" is located 15 kilometers north of Kamyanets-Podilskyi, west of the village of Verbka.

The status of a national botanical reserve was assigned to this territory in 1977. The area of ​​the reserve is 9.3 hectares.

Rare types of steppe vegetation have been preserved within the reserve, including: spring adonis, Volyn milkweed, big dream, hairy heifer, and Dniester hazel.

Local residents nicknamed this mountain "Four Cavaliers" due to its appearance.

On the site of the ancient Podillya village of Sokilets, there were two ancient Rus fortresses back in the 13th century.

In 1973, the village was included in the list of settlements that were subject to flooding in connection with the commissioning of the Dniester HPP. This is exactly what happened to the villages of Bakota, Kalyus and others. Local residents were urgently relocated to the heights of the Ushytsky Canyon. However, the level of rising water turned out to be significantly lower than the erroneous calculation of engineers. In this way, it was possible to preserve the historical part of the village.

Among the ruins are the remains of the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin (1723), the remains of an ancient cave monastery, a part of the ancient defensive wall of the 18th century, a settlement of the 12th-13th centuries, an old village cemetery, a burial mound of the 12th-13th centuries, and the only active object - the Orthodox Church of the Intercession of the Holy Mother of God (1840).

From the territory of modern Sokilets, a wonderful view of the abandoned valley of the village opens.

The massive octagonal pavilion near the town hall on the Polsky Rynok of Kamyanets-Podilskyi was erected over the Armenian Well, which was opened in 1638.

A well with a depth of 55 meters (according to other sources - 40 meters) was cut in solid rock by order of the Polish king Vladyslav IV Vazф. It was to become the main source of drinking water for the city's residents.

According to legend, the construction was carried out on the remains of stolen funds bequeathed to the construction of the city's water supply by the rich Armenian merchant Narzes. However, the water in the well turned out to be salty, and it was deemed unsuitable for drinking. Because of this, the Armenian well was jokingly nicknamed the "monument of corruption".

For a long time, the well pavilion was used as a warehouse. Now it is an exhibition hall.

The Art Gallery of the Art Department of the Kamyanets-Podilskyi State Historical Museum-Reserve is located in the former educational building of the Theological Seminary (XVIII century) on the Armenian Market Square.

Mykhaylo Dostoevskyi, Stepan Rudanskyi, Mykola Leontovych, Anatoliy Svydnytskyi, and others studied at the Kamyanets-Podilskyi Orthodox Seminary.

The museum exposition presents works of painting, graphics and sculpture of the XVII-XX centuries, as well as a collection of icons of various religious denominations.

In 2008, the room-museum of Hodovanets was opened. Thematic exhibitions are held.

The wooden Church of the Ascension of the Holy Cross with a bell tower is located in the suburb of Kamyanets-Podilskyi Karvasary on a narrow coastal strip on the Smotrych River, under the walls of the Old Castle.

The church was built in the 18th century on the site of a temple that existed in the 17th century. The foundation of the church is made of limestone. The church itself is three-log, single-headed with a porch and sacristy on the north side and a belfry attached to the west.

The Church of the Ascension of the Cross is a vivid work of the Podillya school of folk wooden architecture.

The Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Tynna is known for its miraculous image of the Mother of God of Tynna. In the 17th century, the village suffered several Tatar raids, as a result of which the image was transported first to Kamyanets-Podilskyi, and later to Lviv. Only in 1730 the relic returned to the local temple.

The history of the current Church of the Assumption of the Virgin begins in 1597, when Ihnatiy Humetskyi built a new stone church instead of the old wooden one. It is with this period that historians most often associate the appearance of a miraculous image. In 1735, the heavily damaged church was rebuilt. Another decline of the shrine occurred in 1956, when the temple was dismantled.

In the early 1990s, the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary was restored on its former site thanks to the efforts of Father Vladyslav Vanahs. In 2023, the sanctuary of the Mother of God of Tynna was established.

An ancient cemetery is located nearby. Here was the grave of Prince Charles de Nassau-Siegen, who at one time was considered an extremely extraordinary person. The prince spent the last 12 years of his life in Tynna, but his grave did not survive during the next restoration of the temple.

The Atlantida (Atlantis) karst cave is a geological monument of national importance within the Podillya Tovtry National Nature Park.

The cave was discovered in 1968 by pioneer speleologists from Kyiv. It is currently supervised by the Khmelnytskyi speleoclub.

The cave has three connected tiers, the total length is 2525 meters, the area is 4440 square meters. Bats live here and small, not yet completely looted heliatites - stone flowers "grow" here. On the ceiling of the hall - crystals.

The cave is not illuminated and not equipped for visiting, in some places you have to crawl through. Excursions are possible only accompanied by instructors by prior agreement. To visit, you must have a change of clothes, lanterns and other equipment.

Taking crystals out of the cave is prohibited.

The Bakota tract on the banks of the Bakota Bay on the Dniester river is one of the most popular natural tourist locations in Ukraine, part of the National Nature Park "Podilski Tovtry".

It is located on the limestone Bila Mountain, rising 120 meters above the river, near the village of Horaivka, 45 kilometers east of Kamyanets-Podilskyi, on the road to Stara Ushytsia.

Bakota was the name of an ancient Rus city that existed in this place in the XII-XIII and was the capital of Dniester Ponyzzia. Subsequently, the same name was given to a large village on the banks of the Dniester, which was flooded in 1981 during the creation of an artificial Dniester reservoir. Only on the slope of Bila Mountain are the remains of the Bakota Saint Michael Cave Monastery, where a tourist trail leads.

Bakota owes its popularity to the stunning views of Bakota Bay from the observation deck at the top of Bila Mountain, which are especially enchanting at sunset. Within the framework of the project "Bakota - in search of the flooded heritage", a monument to the flooded villages was installed here.

The site is equipped with a suspended wooden walkway, binoculars for viewing the opposite bank, and a tactile map of Bakota for people with visual impairments. The tourist visitor center is open. The route along the "Ancient Bakota" trail has been arranged with QR codes at key points that allow you to listen to the tour online.

Entrance to the park and car parking are paid. Services of tour guides, rental of places for tents and fires, use of tables, etc. are offered. There is a beach at the foot of the mountain.