Attractions of Ternopil district

Kozova Castle was built in the 16th century by the noble Potocki family, who owned the town of Kozova at the time. The fortifications with defensive moats, stone walls and towers were located on a raised cape at the confluence of an unnamed tributary into the Koropets River.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, the castle was subjected to numerous Tatar attacks and was eventually completely destroyed. Near its remains, the new owner of Kozova, August Aleksandr Moszyński, built a palace-residence in 1755 (now it is an administrative building). And the castle ruins in the 19th century were used to build a rosolis (rose liqueur) factory of Count Henryk Szeliski. Later, a brewery operated here, then a soft drinks factory and a regular warehouse.

Now the abandoned buildings of the former Kozova Castle are taken care of by the public organization "Institute of Urban Culture". It is planned to revitalize the building and transform it into a modern multifunctional cultural center of the Kozova hromada.

The Kozova Local Lore Museum is located in the center of the village of Kozova. It is planned to move the museum's exhibits to the premises of a former synagogue, which was converted into a cinema during the Soviet era.

The museum's ethnographic collection tells the story of the life of peasants at the end of the 19th century. The exhibition features ancient embroideries, icons, household items, historical photographs, old prints, etc.

The People`s Lepky Family Museum was opened in the village of Zhukiv next to the previously erected monument to Bohdan Lepky in 1995 on the initiative of a local teacher, local historian and composer Vasyl Podufaly with the help of the Lepky family from the USA.

The Lepky family annually conducted cultural and educational activities in the Berezhany region, in particular in Zhukiv, where they lived from 1891 to 1901.

The five exhibition halls of the museum present unique exhibits about the Lepky family, the sons of Father Sylvester Bohdan, Mykola, Levko and other family members.

The memorial museum-house of Les Kurbas is located in the village of Stariy Skalat, where the memorial house of his grandfather, priest Pylyp Kurbas, has been preserved.

The childhood and youth years of the future outstanding Ukrainian director passed here.

Near the church where Pylyp Kurbas served, relatives of Lesya Kurbas are buried: grandfather and grandmother, father, younger brother Nestor.

The building of the city magistrate in Berezhany was erected in the middle of the XIX century. Its purely administrative functional role as a body of city self-government explains the finishing modesty of the facades.

In the 1920s and 1930s, the city museum was located on the ground floor of the building. The Magistrate's Assembly Hall was often used for various ceremonial events, in particular in 1898 the famous Ukrainian poet Bohdan Lepky delivered a speech here in honor of the 100th anniversary of the publication of "Aeneid" by Ivan Kotlyarevsky.

Nowadays, the premises of the building are occupied by the research department of the State Historical and Architectural Reserve in the city of Berezhany, the DIAZ exhibition hall, art school, district archive.

The Marian spiritual center in Zarvanytsia is the main shrine of the Greek Catholics of Ukraine.

A folk tale tells about a Kyiv monk to whom the Virgin Mary appeared in a dream and ordered him to found a monastery. At this place, a healing spring flowed and an icon of the Mother of God appeared, which was named Zarvanytsia. At the same time, a cave monastery was founded.

It is believed that the first church in Zarvanytsia was built in the 13th century by Prince Vasylko Terebovlyansky after his miraculous healing.

The written mention of the monastery dates back to 1458. In the 17th century, the Tatars destroyed the monastery several times, but the miraculous icon was preserved.

In 1754, Count Myonchynskyi rebuilt the Holy Trinity Church, which has survived to this day (it now houses the icon of the Mother of God of Zarvanytska). In 1867, Pope Pius IX crowned the Zarvanytsia icon, after which the monastery became a major center of pilgrimage.

During the Soviet rule, the monastery was razed to the ground, but local residents managed to save the icon. Until 1988, religious services were conducted secretly. Only in 1991 did the revival of the shrine begin.

On the slope of the mountain near the Strypa River, the majestic Cathedral of the Mother of God of Zarvanytsia with a four-tiered bell tower 75 meters high was built. Nearby - the gate church, the chapel above the spring and the singing field.

A complex of three humorous monuments was opened in the center of Ternopil near the Atrium shopping center in 2010 on the Independence Day of Ukraine.

Two of them are devoted to literary works, and the third to employees of communal services. The monument to the 12th chair is inspired by the satirical book "12 Chairs" by Ilf and Petrov. The monument to the invisible man refers to the novel of the same name by Herbert Wells. The plumber's monument is dedicated to the employees of the Ternopil water supply company.

Conceptually, the monuments are united only by the humor of the author of the idea - a Ternopil philanthropist, owner of a shopping center. The author of the works is Ternopil sculptor Dmytro Mulyarchuk.

The Church of the Mother of God of Tireless Help in Shybalyn was founded in 1925. The funds for the construction were allocated by local noblemen Yakub Potoski and Stanislav Vishnevskyi. The main altar was performed by Yan Voytovych.

The church was consecrated in 1928. However, already in 1945, after the establishment of Soviet power, the church was closed and turned into a warehouse. It still remains abandoned.

The family museum of antiquities "Master's Room" (Svitlytsia Maistra) in the village of Slobidka in the Ternopil region was created by local carpenters brothers Taras and Andrii Tataryn. The exposition in the old Lemko hut, which was built by their grandfather, tells about the traditional folk crafts of the region.

The first exhibit of the museum was an old plane - a carpentry tool, which was used almost a hundred years ago by the ancestors of the Tataryns, whose craft they inherited. Later, other old tools, tools, household items and utensils were added to the plane. These are kerosene lamps, millstones, mortars, meat grinders, etc.

The vast majority of exhibits are family heirlooms of the Tataryn family and their fellow countrymen. But there are also items from other regions in the collection, such as a lathe from Chernihiv region, which is 250 years old. All exhibits of the museum are in working condition.

The museum also recreates the interior of a traditional Lemko hut with an oven for baking bread, authentic beams and other interior details.

The museum room of the Terebovlia Vocational College of Culture and Arts was opened in 1982.

The exposition consists of three chapters that tell about the history of the city of Terebovlia, the founding of the school in 1940, its famous graduates.

Documents, photos, books, dissertations of students are presented.

The castle in Mykulyntsi is known as the only residential medieval castle in Ukraine. People still officially live on the territory of this 16th-century fortification.

The first wooden fortifications on the hill near the Seret River existed here even in princely times. The stone castle was built in 1550-1555 by the mistress of the Mykulyntsi, Anna Yordan (Yordanova) from the Senyavsky family, the wife of Spytko Yordan, the castellan of Kraków. Later, the Mykulyntsi Castle belonged to the Zborovsky and Konetspolsky magnates.

After being damaged during the Liberation War of 1648-1657, the castle was improved and expanded. In 1672, the fortress was taken by the Turks after a 15-day siege. Then they destroyed the entire male population of Mykulyntsi.

Later, the fortress belonged to the Lyubomyrsky, Mnishek, and Potocki. It was then that it lost its defensive significance, and the palace built next to it began to perform representative functions. In the 19th century, Baron Yan Konopka converted it into a cloth factory.

The building is quadrangular in plan, two of the four corner towers have been preserved. Around the perimeter of the inner yard were built residential and commercial buildings, some of which have also been preserved.

At the beginning of the 20th century, when Mykulyntsi belonged to Countess Yuzefa Rey, her beloved servant Anna settled in the castle. She continued to live there even after the arrival of Soviet power, when the countess died and her son died. Currently, the housekeeper's daughter Stefaniya Baloy remains the owner of the residential premises of the architectural monument.

Mykulyntsi Castle is part of the National Reserve "Castles of Ternopil Region", but access to the territory is closed.

The National Liberation OUN-UPA Struggle Museum named after Yakiv Busel in the village of Byshky is a department of the National Liberation Struggle Museum of the Ternopil region.

The museum at the Byshky Gymnasium was opened in 1999 in the building where the headquarters of the OUN-UPA Branch was located in 1943-1945. UPA Corporal Roman Shukhevych, head of the UPA security service Mykola Arsenych, head of combat reference Dmytro Hrytsai and other leaders of the organization worked here.

The museum bears the name of one of the ideologues of the UPA, Yakiv Busel, who died in Byshky during a battle with a unit of the internal troops of the NKVD.

The museum exhibits personal belongings of the rebels, weapons, photographs, documents, models. The rebel hideout has been reconstructed.

The monument "Fighters for the freedom of Ukraine" was installed.

The Museum of the National Liberation Struggle of Ternopil Region was established in 2019 and unites other museums of the region related to the history of liberation struggles in the region.

The department of the Ternopil Region National Liberation Struggle Museum is the National Liberation OUP-UPA Struggle Museum named after Yakiv Busel in the village of Byshky and the Historical and Memorial Museum of Yaroslav and Slava Stetsko in the village of Velykyi Hlybochok.

The museum's exposition in Ternopil reveals the history of Ukraine's struggle for independence, in particular during the Revolution of Dignity and the Russian-Ukrainian war.

The exhibition "People of Freedom", developed by the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory, tells about 26 public figures of the last century, thanks to whose struggle it was possible to restore Ukraine's independence.

National Reserve "Castles of Ternopil Region" (Zamky Ternopillia) unites 11 ancient defensive structures (castles and fortresses), which are best preserved in the territory of Ternopil region. The institution is engaged in the preservation, restoration and tourist promotion of these monuments of historical and cultural heritage.

In the 17th-18th centuries, there were over a hundred castles in Ternopil Podillia, which served as fortified residences of local landowners-aristocrats, mainly during the Polish-Lithuanian rule in the region. Of these, 34 have survived to this day in varying states of preservation.

The base of the "Ternopil Castles" reserve since 1994 is the architectural complex of the 17th-century Zbarazh Castle, together with the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord of 1600 and the ensemble of buildings of the 17th-18th centuries Bernardine Monastery in the city of Zbarazh, which are architectural monuments of national importance.

It is in the restored halls of the Zbarazh Castle that the largest part of the reserve's collection is presented: archaeological materials, weapons, objects of art, etc. Active restoration work and the deployment of new expositions continue in the Vyshnivets Palace. A small exposition is arranged in the Skalat Castle. The remaining objects of the reserve are in a state of conservation and ongoing restoration work.

The administration of the reserve is located in a two-story building of the former county eldership built in 1891, which is located on the southwestern side of the Zbarazh Castle, in the Zbarazhsky Pidzamche area. The reserve regularly hosts festivals, cultural and artistic events, scientific conferences and other events.

The National Reserve "Castles of Ternopil Region" includes:
- Zbarazh Castle (Zbarazh);
- Vyshnivets Palace and Park Complex (Vyshnivets);
- Skalat Castle (Skalat);
- Terebovlia Castle (Terebovlia);
- Chortkiv Castle (Chortkiv);
- Tvorovsky Castle (Pidzamochok);
- Yazlovets Castle (Yazlovets);
- Potocki Castle (Zolotyi Potik);
- Mykulyntsi Castle (Mykulyntsi);
- Skala-Podilska Castle (Skala-Podilska);
- Kryvche Castle (Kryvche).

The Cathedral of the Nativity of Christ in Ternopil is a surprisingly beautiful temple, one of the best examples of the Podillya architectural school of the 17th century.

The church was built in 1602-1608 by a craftsman named Leontiy near the eastern city gate. It acquired a modern appearance as a result of further reconstruction and restoration in 1937.

Currently, the Cathedral of the Nativity of Christ belongs to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. The main shrine is the icon of the Mother of God of Ternopil.