Attractions of Rivne region

A monument to Princess Mariya Rivnenska (Nesvytska), the wife of Prince Semen Nesvytskyi, who in the 15th century contributed to the transformation of Rivne from a small village into a large city, was erected in the city center in 2006.

After the death of Prince Nesvytskyi in 1479, Rivne passed into the hands of his wife, who became known as Mariya Rivnenska. She laid a castle on the island and other city buildings, with her the city received the right of Magdeburg and the privilege of an annual fair. In 1507, Mariya Rivnenska (Nesvytska) received from the king the right of eternal possession of the castle and the city.

The private museum "Blacksmith Delights" ("Kovalski Vytrebenky") in Rivne was founded in 2013 by the owners of the enterprise "Rivnebudpostach" (now "Rivnemetalkom"), which is the organizer of the International Blacksmith Art Festival "Metal Heart of Ukraine". The collection was launched by a metal shoe created at one of the festivals.

Currently, the exposition presents more than a hundred products of blacksmith art, both from Rivne blacksmiths and masters from other regions of Ukraine. Among the works are political cartoons and creative experiments with materials by Roman Veligursky, sculptures by Artem Volsky, sophisticated compositions by Viktor Mikhalyov, etc. Metal candelabras, knight's armor, filigree chests and several dozen different metal figures are presented. The largest exhibit is a two-meter long bear with a fishing rod and a bucket.

In 2016, the Art Gallery of Blacksmithing was opened at the museum.

The museum and entertainment complex "Mysterious Rivne Dungeons" opened in 2021 in the Rivne Park of Culture and Recreation named after Taras Shevchenko. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the estate of Prince Frederik Lubomyrsky "On the Hill" was located here.

The Lyubomirskyi Palace was destroyed during the Second World War, in the post-war years its remains were demolished during the arrangement of the park, but elements of the basement part of the building were preserved under the "Bogatyr" fountain. They became the basis for the interactive museum exposition "Mysterious Rivne Dungeons". Its project was developed by the outstanding Ukrainian monumentalist artist Anatoliy Haydamaka.

The exhibition complex consists of an upper observation deck and an underground part. From above, fragments of archaeological excavations on the territory of the manor are available for inspection through glass circles, with an illuminated display of samples of weapons found during research.

In the underground part, you can see cleared corridors and rooms with an exposition about the history of the city of Rivne, the palace complex "On the Hill" and the family of the Lubomyrsky princes.

Visitors are offered classic tours, virtual tours using multimedia technologies, as well as an interactive game in the quest room.

The National Historical and Memorial Reserve "Field of the Battle of Berestechko" was founded in 1912 on the site where the largest battle of the Liberation War took place in 1651 under the leadership of Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytskyi.

A 100,000-strong Cossack army supported by 30,000 Tatars of Khan Islam III Girey fought near Berestechko with a 300,000-strong Polish army of King Jan Casimir II. Due to the betrayal of the Tatars, the Zaporizzhhia were defeated, losing according to various estimates from 10 to 30 thousand killed. As a result of the defeat in the Battle of Berestechko, Khmelnytskyi was forced to conclude the unfavorable Bilotserkivsky Peace with Jan Casimir.

In 1912, in memory of the tragic battle, the wooden Saint Michael's Church (XVII century), in which Khmelnytsky prayed before the battle, was moved to Zhuravlykha Island. According to the project of architects Volodymyr Maksimov and Oleksiy Shchusev, a magnificent temple-monument to Saint George was built in the style of Cossack temples with nine baths and an iconostasis brought outside (artist Ivan Yizhakevych). The so-called "balcony" church of Borys and Hlib is located on the second floor.

An underground passage connects the Saint Michael's Church with the underground chapel-tomb of Paraskeva Pyatnytsya under Saint George's Church, where the remains of the dead Cossacks are buried (in particular, they fill the hollow central pillar).

In 1966, the museum-reserve "Cossack Graves" was created. Today it is the National Historical and Memorial Reserve "Field of Battle of Berestechko". The museum of the complex presents finds made by archaeologists on the battlefield.

In 1991, a monument to Cossacks and rebel peasants was opened (sculptor Anatoliy Kush).

The Saint George Men's Monastery of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine operates here.

The Orthodox Church of the Nativity of Christ is located in the center of Klevan next to the castle.

It was founded in 1777 as a Greek Catholic church. The stone church of the Nativity of Christ was built at the expense of Adam Chartoryysky. It has characteristic forms of classicism, decorated with a hollow pilaster portico of the Tuscan order with a triangular pediment, finished with a semicircular attic. Planning is typical of folk architecture: cross plan, single-headed finish.

In 1844, a stone bell tower was erected next to the Church of the Nativity.

It belongs to the UOC of the Moscow Patriarchate.

The Church of the Nativity of the Holy Virgin Mary was built in Dubrovytsia in 1865 at the expense of Count Ihnatiy Broel-Plyater.

The three-domed stone temple is made in the late Baroque style.

In Soviet times, the church building was used as a salt warehouse. Today it is an active temple, an architectural monument of national importance.

Lake Nobel is located in the floodplain of the Prypyat River in the north of Rivne Region.

Its area is 5 square kilometers, the depth is more than 10 meters. The lake divides the peninsula from north to south, on which the village of Nobel is located. The eastern (large) part of the lake is narrow and elongated from north to south, the western part is more oval.

The shores and bottom are sandy, very fragmented. There are four islands. There are crucian carp, tench, pike, perch, catfish, and crayfish. On the banks - nesting of wild geese, ducks and other birds.

The Novomalyn Castle was built on a hill above the Zbytenka River by Prince Svydryhaylo at the end of the 14th century.

Initially, it was surrounded by a moat with water. It was regular in plan, had five corner pentagonal towers connected by walls with loopholes, a bridge and an entrance gate on the north-eastern side. It was rebuilt in the XV, XVII, XVIII centuries. A major reconstruction was carried out at the beginning of the 19th century by the Sosnovsky magnates.

The palace is located along the south-eastern side of the castle. Its outer wall was defensive, connected to the walls of the castle. The building has vaulted basements in several levels. Nearby was a kitchen decorated with a neo-Gothic arcade.

A neo-Gothic style chapel was built on the basis of one of the defensive towers. Each of its facades is pierced by one narrow arrowed window, and high round towers placed at the five outer corners, drawn with linear rust, resemble Gothic pinnacles. The interior of the chapel was decorated with marble carvings made by the master of the manor himself, sculptor Tomash Oskar Sosnovsky (beginning of the 19th century).

Currently, the western pentagonal two-story tower, the half-ruined southern tower, a small section of the defensive wall between them, the chapel (the northern tower of the castle) and the ruins of the former palace are preserved. The ceilings are destroyed, only three rooms of the first floor have preserved cross vaults.

The numismatic collection of the State Historical and Cultural Reserve of Ostroh is located in the former the Shteynberh residential building (19th century) in the city center.

A significant part of the collection consists of coins, paper money and awards of the Russian Empire, including gold coins of Peter I and Catherine II.

A special place in the exhibition is occupied by the history of the development of Ukrainian money of the twentieth century: paper notes of Odesa, Zhytomyr, Kremenets, Ostroh, national money and securities of the Liberation Struggle of 1917-1921.

The main place in the exposition is given to modern awards of Ukraine and awards of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

The Church of Oleksandr Nevsky in Radyvyliv was founded in 1824 with the assistance of Volyn Bishop Stefan Romanovsky.

Due to a lack of funds, the construction took 50 years. Only in 1874, thanks to the help of the then owner Radyvyliv, the active state adviser of Popov, the construction of the Oleksandr Nevsky Church was completed.

The church is subordinated to the UOC of the Moscow Patriarchate.

The wooden church of Oleksandr Nevsky in Kostopil was built in 1893.

The temple belongs to the little-known samples of the last period of the development of Volyn monumental architecture of the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century with the use of the "diocesan" style.

Ostroh Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy is the first higher educational institution in Ukraine and Eastern Europe.

It was founded in 1576 by Prince Vasyl-Kostyantyn Ostrozky and Princess Halshka Ostrozka (a memorial sign has been erected in Shevchenko Park next to the castle where the academy was originally located). The first printer Ivan Fedorov opened a printing house there in 1580, where the first "Bukvar" and the famous "Ostroh Bible" were published.

The first rector of the academy was Herasym Smotrytsky. Among the graduates are Hetman Petro Sahaydachny, the Nalyvayko brothers and others.

In 1624, after the founding of the Jesuit College in Ostroh, funding for the academy ceased, and in 1636 it was disbanded. Revived in 1994 as a state university. Today it occupies the premises of the former Capuchin monastery with the Trinity Church (1778, architects Paolo Fontana).

Simultaneously with the revival of the educational institution, the Center for the Study of the Heritage of the Ostroh Academy was established and the collection of materials for the creation of an exposition began, which was the beginning of the creation of the Museum of the History of the Ostroh Academy. Currently, the museum complex includes 6 exposition sections.

The iconographic collection of the museum is located in the restored university church. The collection is based on samples of Ukrainian and European iconography of the 18th-19th centuries, as well as works by the famous modern painter Yuri Nikitin and graduates of the National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture. The icons, being exhibits of the academy museum, are also part of the interior of the temple.

During 1998-1999, the dungeons located under the temple and used as crypts (burial places) during the period of the monastery's operation were cleared. The interior of the crypts was recreated, the premises were museumified, and the dungeons became part of the museum complex.

In 2000, an exhibition of the history of the premises in which the modern Ostroh Academy operates was formed in the old monastery building (the former building of cells of the 18th century). The central exhibit of this hall was the discovered and restored monastery well.

During 2005-2014, an exhibition of old prints and rare books was formed in the museum. Since 2014, the collection has been located in the student and teaching church. It presents publications of the largest Ukrainian printing houses of the 16th-18th centuries (Lviv, Kyiv, Pochaiv), as well as rare books of the 19th - early 20th centuries.

The museum's art collection has been formed since 1997. These are mainly paintings by modern Ukrainian artists, as well as sculptures, artistic textiles and glass. Most of the paintings are presented in thematic collections and are exhibited in the corridors of the central building of the National University "Ostroh Academy".

Since 2009, the most dynamic exhibition unit of the museum has been operating – the underground art gallery, located in the basement of the former 18th-century Capuchin monastery.

A separate exhibition unit of the museum is the private ethnographic collection and a collection of rare books of the famous Ukrainian scientist, academician Mykola Zhulynsky.

The Ostroh Castle on the mountain above the Viliya River is the former residence of the powerful Ostrozky princes, who in the 14th and 17th centuries owned large lands in Volyn.

Prince Danylo - the first precisely known prince from the Ostrozky dynasty - began to build fortifications on the site of an ancient Rus settlement. His descendants expanded and strengthened their capital for two centuries, which flourished at the beginning of the 16th century under Prince Kostyantyn Ostrozky.

The story of the "black princess" Halshka Ostrozka, who after the death of Illya Ostrozky father, inherited all his fortune is connected with the castle. Real tycoon wars broke out over her hand, she was forced to marry twice, but her uncle Vasyl-Kostyantyn managed to preserve the possessions of the Ostrozky family. Subsequently, he became famous as an educator and defender of Orthodoxy.

The oldest building of Ostroh Castle is the Watch Tower or "Brick Tower" (XIV century), in which the exposition of the local history museum was opened as early as 1916. The main exhibit is the famous Ostroh Bible, published in 1681 by the first printer Ivan Fedorov. A collection of unique Volyn "smiling icons" is on display. A model of the medieval Ostroh is presented. Also preserved is the Round (New) tower (XVI century) with a Renaissance crown of dentils, from the foot of which you can see the domes of the monastery in Mezhirich.

The ancient Epiphany Cathedral (year 1453) is located on the territory of the castle, the silhouette of which was the coat of arms of the city. Under the Catholics, the church was partially destroyed, one wall with loopholes was included in the fortification system of the castle. At the end of the 19th century, the cathedral was reconstructed in the pseudo-Byzantine style according to the project of the architect Basilevsky, and the baths received a characteristic gilding. In 1905, the Nadbram bell tower was built. The temple is active, belongs to the UOC MP.

Since 1981, Ostroh Castle, together with the ensemble of other architectural monuments of the city and its surroundings, has been part of the State Historical and Cultural Reserve of Ostroh. In recent years, a number of accessibility programs have been implemented here. In particular, the reserve implemented the project "Inclusive Museum in Ostroh Castle". Now visually impaired visitors have access to tactile pointers and diagrams, 3D models of some exhibits (in particular, a tactile model of the castle of the Princes Ostrozky), an audio guide with tiflocommentary, a guide for the blind, as well as a guide with adapted text for people with hearing impairments. The site of the reserve is adapted for people with disabilities.

The Peace Museum was opened in Rivne in 1999 on the basis of the International University of Economics and Humanities in 1999 at the initiative of the famous teacher, academician and founder of the university Stepan Demyanchuk.

The Peace Museum is represented by three halls. The first hall outlines the main components of the problem of peace. The exposition is created in sections: "Folk wisdom and Ukrainian thinkers (Hryhoriy Skovoroda, Taras Shevchenko, Mykola Hohol, Mykhaylo Drahomanov and others) about good and evil", "History of the Ukrainian state. The path to mutual understanding and peace in the state", "Ukrainian humanists of the 20th century (Mykhaylo Hrushevsky, Volodymyr Korolenko, Oleksandr Dovzhenko and others)", "The movement of supporters of peace in Ukraine in the post-war periods. Ukraine and the UN".

The following aspects of the problem of peace are separately highlighted: the ecological security of Ukraine; national policy in Ukraine (religious and interethnic relations, mutual understanding and mutual respect); sports and art, activities of public organizations.

The second exhibition hall tells about the struggle for Ukraine's independence within the framework of peacemaking processes. About wars in the history of Ukraine, their participants, national tragedies, the Holodomor and repressions against Ukrainians. These exhibits are divided into three sections: "From the princely era and the Cossacks, to the times of the First and Second World Wars", "The Holodomor in Ukraine and the genocide of Ukrainian Jews", "The Revolution of Dignity and the Russian-Ukrainian War".

The last exhibition reflects the scientific and pedagogical activities of university employees who devoted their work to the issues of peace, humanism, tolerance towards other peoples and nations, the history of the creation and activities of the university. Another part of the stands presents the sporting achievements of students and teachers in sports, their participation in All-Ukrainian and World tournaments, and the promotion of sports as one of the tools for settling peace in the world. A separate stand section is dedicated to partnership activities with universities in Georgia, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Spain, Canada, the USA, and the UK.

The pharmacy museum opened in Rivne in 2020 on the basis of the oldest Rivne pharmacy No. 3.

From the pharmacy window, pharmacist Józef greets all passers-by, who, according to historical documents, was the owner of this pharmacy at the beginning of the 20th century. On the walls of the pharmacy hang his portraits at work, photos of other luminaries of the Rivne pharmacy business, as well as each stage of the medicine manufacturing process.

The interior preserves restored old shelves from Polish times with figured carvings, which have decorated this pharmacy since 1903. Among the exhibits is a 100-year-old cash register, with which they not only recorded the sale of drugs, but also kept records of patients and opened loans. There is a pharmacist's chest and chair, flasks, beakers, scales and mortars.

The employees of the pharmacy museum have preserved unique handwritten recipes for tinctures, ointments, nourishing creams, etc. Along with regular medicines, you can buy pills “for happiness”, pills “for envy”, “Antihandrin”, “Pills to attract love” - vitaminized herbal preparations of the pharmacy’s own production.

The pharmacy holds master classes during which anyone can try to make vitaminized powders, ointments, and creams.