Turka: The Boyko Capital, a Pearl of the Carpathians

Turka — the pearl of the Carpathians

Turka

Turka is one of the twenty district centres of the Lviv region, situated in the south-west of the region, in the geographical zone of the Carpathians, where popular tourist routes run. Turka is the unofficial capital of the Boykos, an ethnic group of Ukrainians who have preserved their culture, language and history and hold the famous Boyko festivities here.

One version of the origin of the town's name is the aurochs that once lived in these parts. The image of a wild bull on the coat of arms of Turka and its district is a symbol of the strength and pride of the people of Boykivshchyna.

On my tour to Turka I set off by suburban train from Lviv. I wanted to see the mountains and the preserved architectural monuments. Outside the window one landscape gave way to another.

All along the way, alongside the railway, the Dnister and its tributaries the Stryi and the Yasenytsia stretched out like blue ribbons. After the dry summer the rivers had grown shallow, and in places the stony bed was visible, while the floodplains are increasingly taken over by hogweed, a vicious weed up to 2 m tall.

Several times the train crossed the water arteries of Subcarpathia over truss bridges, and after Sambir station it passed through 4 tunnels. Sometimes the electric train curved into an arc, so that the neighbouring carriages were visible from the window. Very beautiful are the station buildings at Komarno, Strilky, Yavora, Yasenytsia, Staryi Sambir of the Lviv Railway, built by the Austrians at the end of the 19th century.

The station building at Strilky

The station building at Staryi Sambir

The station building at Yavora

Turka met me warily.

Turka railway station. The suburban train Lviv – Sianky

When I was photographing the electric train and the wooden houses beyond the railway, the station duty officer in a red cap and a man in plain clothes came up to me. My explanations of why I was photographing, who I was and why I was here were unconvincing. The people of Turka looked at me suspiciously. I offered to show them my blog and gave them a business card. Not quite understanding what it was, they nonetheless wished me an interesting journey. Let the bosses of Ukrzaliznytsia rest easy about their subordinates — they know their job description and show vigilance.

Over the centre of the town stretches a railway bridge 400 m long. When you approach the station along it, from above you can see the squares, the monuments and the shops.

A building of 1923, whose windows and balconies are decorated with artistic moulding, has been plastered over with the advertising signs of commercial companies, like flies. And how one longs to make out the curling plants and the owl that watches over everything with its keen eye.

The same heaping of advertising is on the People's House too, with its memorial plaque to I. Ya. Franko. Here the Kameniar once read his prophetic 'Moses' during his 'wanderings' about Halychyna. How poorly we remember our classics! And yet in this poetic testament the author addresses the people standing at a crossroads: 'Was your whole land soaked in the blood of your fighters in vain?'

The People's House

Some old buildings have been renovated. The social shop has done without advertising.

On the same Mickiewicz Street the new Greek Catholic church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, like all recently built ones, stands out for its size and pomp.

It is matched in beauty and splendour of decoration by the Orthodox Church of the Intercession of the Most Holy Mother of God. These two places of worship stand in the centre of the town and are the main parish churches of the religious communities.

To see the other shrines, I walked along the very long Sich Riflemen Street, where old stone buildings, administrative and residential, alternate with little wooden houses drowning in bushes of chrysanthemums and Michaelmas daisies.

The Education Department and the Pension Fund

A building on Sich Riflemen Street

A building on Sich Riflemen Street

The town has new fine houses too, but this was not their day, and I paid more attention to the old and wooden ones. Several times I saw a plaque on the facades: 'Our houses — ours to cherish.'

A chapel among the trees

This wooden building once housed a sports school. It is now being repaired, and people supposedly live in it.

The former sports school

The road stretched along the Litmir river, over which bridges, footbridges and little crossings are periodically thrown.

The Litmir river

The Litmir river

Sich Riflemen Street does not end but passes into Serednia Street. It is like a microdistrict of the town. Here stands the Orthodox Church of St. Nicholas, built in 1739 without a single nail, using ash-wood pegs. Now this architectural monument of national significance has been clad in boards, and its octagonal tented roofs covered with iron. In Soviet times a museum was here.

Another architectural monument, also of national significance, is at the very end of Turka, in the third part of the street — Horishnia. Indeed, the Church of the Dormition of the Most Holy Mother of God was built on a hill, and I would not have noticed the path to it had a girl I met along the way not pointed it out. She was returning from school, and I asked her whether it was still far to go, though from experience I know that for the inhabitants of mountain settlements a distance of up to 10 km is close. The Boyko beauty overtook me while I was photographing the bridges and houses, and then waited on purpose by the turn to show me the way.

The wooden church was built in 1750 on the site of the previous one, which the Zaporozhian Cossacks raised in the 17th century. Its peculiarity is that the axis of the structure runs from south to north, and not from west to east.

The view from the hill is wonderful.

I did not want to leave, but one has to see the other notable sights, and the distance to the centre is more than 3.5 km. The day was beautiful — the 30th of September, the Day of Faith, Hope, Love and their mother Sophia. I consider the holy martyrs the patronesses and protectresses of women. And this day I regard as the true women's holiday — not the one dreamed up by the revolutionaries Rosa and Clara, when once a year happy little fools are handed three tulips, while on other days they are treated rudely and all the rest. It is precisely these Christian virtues — faith, hope, love, wisdom — that are the most valuable components of our way of life.

Along the way I met horse-drawn carts several times. One driver even offered me a lift. I thanked him and declined. I recalled the not-entirely-comfortable state during such a trip to Hrusheve. No — although I only had to trudge 7 km there and back along this street, I did not want to be jolted about in a cart.

The historic centre of Turka is Market Square, founded back in the 18th century. The town hall building was erected in 1907 on the site of a wooden one, and the town authorities have always been housed here. You can learn about the history and culture of the region in the 'Boykivshchyna' museum, which is in the Turka city council building.

Several monuments, a bookshop and a library on the square testify that history is remembered and books are read.

Monument to T. H. Shevchenko (1990)

A building on Market Square (1934). A bookshop

The residents preserved the Roman Catholic Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, built in 1779. After the Second World War it was used as a warehouse, but since 1992, following repairs, it has served the Catholic community.

But the fortress synagogue, built in the 19th century in the 'Romantic Art Nouveau' style, they did manage to destroy — already in Soviet times. During the Second World War a Jewish ghetto was located here. After the war the authorities forced the Jews who returned to the town to give up the building for utility premises. It has now been turned into a carpentry workshop, and everything around is cluttered. The carpenter working in the shop, who came out to meet me, told me that there are many rooms here, and that the synagogue had two entrances — for the poor and for the rich.

I still had a little time, and at great speed I set off for the wooden Church of the Translation of the Relics of St. Nicholas, built in 1776 in the Boyko style. The church has the status of an architectural and historical monument of national significance and stands in an old cemetery, where Ukrainians and Poles were buried side by side from the 18th century. The building has not been touched by radical repairs; memorial services are now held here.

In 15 minutes I ran down to the railway station and caught the electric train.

The railway station

The station duty officer, who in the morning had been curious about the purpose of my visit and my photographing, recognised me and asked how the tour had gone, whether I had liked everything. Yes, I liked my tour to Turka. I had never before seen such district centres, whose streets are spread over several kilometres, with a population of only 8,000. And yet here there are several architectural monuments, good schools and a hospital, fine shops, a stadium, a music school and a museum. That day I walked more than 12 km, but it was all a pleasure to me, and I share my impressions with you.

Turka