Attractions of Rivne region

The Museum of the History of the Rivne Ukrainian Gymnasium "From Gymnasium to Gymnasium" is one of the first public museums in the Rivne region, the exposition of which tells about the history of the educational institution in 1923-1939 and about its revival during the years of Independence of Ukraine.

In September 2003, the museum received the status of "People's Museum".

During the Polish rule in the 1920s, the Rivne Ukrainian Private Gymnasium was known throughout Volyn as one of the most advanced systems of education and upbringing at that time.

The history of the educational institution, which is presented in the museum's exposition, is recreated based on the memoirs of Professor Mykhaylo Hutsulyak, from the letters and materials of Yuriy Shumovsky, Professor of Mathematics Nadiya Ishchuk, from the memoirs of the daughter of the drawing teacher Heorhiy Kosmiadi, as well as from modern research by Candidate of Historical Sciences Valentyna Dobrochynska and others.

During the activity of the Rivne Ukrainian Gymnasium, famous professors  educated hundreds of patriots of Ukraine. Most of the graduates of the Rivne Ukrainian Gymnasium took an active part in the national liberation struggle, becoming members of the OUN, the Sich of the "Carpathian Sich", and the UPA soldiers.

Spring of Saint Anna in Onyshkivtsi is a holy spring with a bath, one of the pilgrimage centers of Orthodox believers in Volyn.

According to an old tradition, in the 17th century, there was an icon of Saint Righteous Anna at this place, and a non-freezing spring, which is considered healing, flowed from the ground.

The chapel of Saint Anna was built above the spring. The water temperature in the spring is 4 degrees throughout the year. Those who want to heal from diseases dive into the water in the open pool. Women are asked to come to the bathhouse in a long shirt.

In the second half of the 17th century, the Lubomyrsky magnates, to whom Velyki Mezhyrichi belonged at that time, founded a Roman Catholic collegium.

In 1702-1725, the majestic church of Saint Anthony was built in the baroque style according to the project of the architect Voytsekh Lenartovych.

The church is stone, hall-type, with choirs, where the organ used to be. The interiors were decorated with rich stucco. The church is decorated with three pediments of late baroque character. On the altar side of the building, a two-story annex of the collegium with a library and an examination hall has been preserved.

Today, the church of Saint Anthony is in a very neglected state, although it is an architectural monument of national importance.

The wooden church of Saint George in Surmychi, a former suburb of Dubno, was built in 1700 according to the traditions of the Volyn school of church building in the Ukrainian Baroque style. It is located on a hill near the Ikva River.

The church is three-part, three-nave, on a stone foundation. The iconostasis is of great artistic value, in which there is an icon by the outstanding Ukrainian artist of the late 17th - early 18th centuries, Yov Kondzelevych.

Next to the church is a bell tower from 1869. It has five ancient bells, three of which are still in use.

Saint George's Church is part of the State Historical and Cultural Reserve in the city of Dubno.

The parish church of Saint John of Nepomuk is the only active Catholic church in the city of Dubno. It was built in 1817-1830 by the local parish priest Aloiz Osiński on the site of an older church. There is a stone bell tower nearby.

During the Soviet rule, the gymnasium of the local sports school was closed and transformed.

In 1991, after Ukraine gained independence, services were resumed in the church. In 1994, the church of Saint John Nepomuk in Dubno was officially handed over to the faithful of the Roman Catholic parish

It is part of the State Historical and Cultural Reserve in the city of Dubno.The monument needs restoration.

The one-nave church of Saint Lawrence in Taikury with an elongated faceted apse and two side chapels half the height of the nave is surrounded on all sides by a dilapidated but still strong stone wall.

A belfry in the form of a high pediment with three vertical slits for bells is attached to the western corner. Once the church had a crowning pinak tower above the ridge of the pitched roof. Despite the neglected state, the main elements of the architectural design are clearly visible in the interior: pilasters, horizontal belts, cornice with a complex set of profiles. The composition of the main part of the interior space is completed by a cylindrical vault with deep formwork in the places adjacent to the windows, elastic arches and bundles of false ribs. Other rooms are covered with ordinary cross vaults.

According to legend, the church of Saint Lawrence was built thanks to an accident: the dog of the nobleman Peplovsky, looking for game shot by his master, dug up a golden treasure from the ground. Thanks to fate, the nobleman built a church on that place.

The Church of Saint Nicholas in Korets was built in 1834 at the expense of Prince Yuzef Chartoryiskyi.

The composition of the church in the Empire style is based on a typical three-part structure for Volyn cult construction. From the ends, the church is decorated with majestic, albeit somewhat disproportionate, porticoes with Tuscan columns.

Mykolaiv Church in Korka belongs to the UOC of the Moscow Patriarchate.

A small wooden church of Saint Nicholas was built in the central square of Shubkiv in 1629.

In 1870, when the village came under the ownership of Princess Yevheniya Shenshyna from the Arsenyev family, a new church was built on the site of the old Saint Nicholas church, and the old one was moved to the village cemetery with the help of oak logs.

Now it is an active church in the name of Saint Nicholas.

The wooden church of Saint Nicholas was built in the city of Dubrovytsia in 1872 at the expense of the parishioners. In 1876, a church-parish fraternity was founded at the church, and in 1877, a one-class public school was opened.

Saint Nicholas Church is an architectural monument of local importance.

The temple is active and belongs to the UOC of the Moscow Patriarchate.

The wooden church of the Saints Apostles Peter and Paul in Velyki Mezhyrichi was built in 1848 on the site of an older church.

The building is three-log, one-story. The architecture of the monument combines classicist principles with pseudo-Rus styling. In the interior, the highly open inner space of the nave is actively enhanced by the contrast of the flat-roofed nave, which opens into the nave with a high semi-circular arch-cut.

The Peter and Paul Church is a work of wooden architecture of the Rivne region of the middle of the 19th century.

Sarny Historical and Ethnographic Museum is a department of the Rivne Regional Museum of Local Lore. Established in 1974 as a center for the preservation and popularization of the historical and cultural heritage of Polissia, the visiting card of the city of Sarny.

The museum's exposition is dedicated to the historical past of the region, folk crafts and crafts, the life and lifestyle of Polishchuk peasants. Historical documents, a collection of ancient clothing, tools and household items, and decorative and applied arts are presented.

The exposition is devoted to folk crafts and handicrafts, life and everyday life of Polishchuk peasants.

A mini-skansen (open-air museum) was opened on the territory of the museum in 2020. Monuments of folk architecture from the village of Horynychi have been collected and restored here: two village estates and a wooden chapel of the XVIII century, a smithy and a windmill of the XIX century.

Traditionally, the Historical and Ethnographic Museum  in Sarny hosts folk art festivals with the invitation of amateur art groups, masters of folk art.

The Shevchenko spring (Tarasova krynytsya) is located next to the M-06 highway "Kyiv - Chop" not far from Dubno, behind the village of Pidluzhzhia near Tarakaniv.

In the fall of 1846, the Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko rested near this spring during his trip to Volyn as an artist in the Archaeological Commission. On his way back from Pochaiv, he visited the village of Verba and the city of Dubno. According to local legend, Shevchenko drank water from this roadside well.

During Soviet times, the Shevchenko spring was beautifully decorated, and a monument to the poet was erected near it.

The People`s History Museum of the Village of Stepan was founded in 1960.

The museum's exposition is located in four halls. Among the museum's exhibits, the oldest of which date back to the 13th-15th centuries, are weapons found on Stepan Val, a shovel from the time of Kyivan Rus, jewelry of the Ostrozky princes, etc.

In the hall "Life and clothing of Stepan residents of the late 19th - early 20th centuries" the interior of a traditional Polissya hut is recreated - with small windows, various machines, a stove, a wooden basin, old icons on the corner and a cradle.

The exposition also presents a large collection of embroidered towels and authentic Polissya clothing. In particular, you can see the men's and women's folk costumes of Polishchuk peasants (Polissya embroidered shirts, namitka, litnyk, katsaveyka, svita, kozhukh) and footwear (lychaky, wooden drepy, chuni).

A separate hall is dedicated to the life and work of the talented artist Stepan Chupryna, a native of Stepan.

The Stetsky Palace in Velyki Mezhyrichi was built on a hill on which the castle of the Koretskyi princes stood in the Middle Ages.

In 1789, Ovruch mayor Yan Kazimezh Stetsky won this estate in a lottery and soon built a palace in the classicist style on the site of the castle according to the project of the royal architect Dominic Merlini.

The building is rectangular in plan, with two symmetrical risalites on the main facade, two porticoes and a belvedere. The front facade is accented with porticos of the Ionic order, and the garden facade is accented with a six-column portico with a balcony on the second floor. The central building is symmetrically adjoined by arched galleries-transitions connecting it with the outbuildings. The palace was surrounded by a park, at the foot of which was a trout pond.

During Soviet times, the Stetsky manor housed the Velyki Mezhyrichi special boarding school. The building began to be restored little by little.

The path to the palace passes through an apple orchard. The palace overlooks the church of Saint Anthony.

Rivne Park of Culture and Recreation named after Taras Shevchenko is a monument of garden and park art of state importance.

It was founded at the end of the 18th century, and today the age of individual trees reaches 150-200 years. There are 160 species of trees and shrubs here, many of which are exotic - North American (Engelmann spruce, Weymouth pine, catalpa bignonia, ash maple, red oak), Far Eastern (Amur velvet), South European (forsythia European, edible chestnut) evergreen ), species from China and Japan, Central Asia (biota orientalis, magnolia Sulanza, tall ailant, Japanese quince).

In the early 1950s, the park significantly expanded its territory, in 1977-1984, the park was reconstructed, as a result, it was replenished with new species. A cascade of pools with fountains surrounded by willows was created. In total, there are about 5,540 trees and 14,200 bushes in the park. In the spring of 2000, 670 trees (spruce, pine, thuja, birch, linden, maple) and 50 bushes were planted.

At the moment, the park named after Taras Shevchenko covers 32 hectares and has 5 zones: quiet recreation, active recreation, spectacular structures, sports and children's sector.