There are towns you get to know while passing through them in transit. Hodoriv is a railway junction that you can reach by suburban and long-distance trains from
Lviv,
Stryi,
Zhydachiv, Ivano-Frankivsk and Halych. To sit at the station for two hours waiting for the suburban train — no, that is not for me. A two-hour blitz-hike along the town's main streets proved instructive and successful, despite the rainy weather.
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| Hodoriv. The railway station |
I recall the well-known saying of Hryhorii Skovoroda: "Every town has its custom and its laws, every head holds its own mind". This ancient town of Galicia, with a population of about 11,000, has its own features and sights — buildings and surviving historical monuments unlike any others, which, on the move, almost at a run, I manage to capture on camera.
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| Pryvokzalna Street. One of two similar residential houses |
A hundred and fifty metres from the station lies a park, laid out in the 19th century by Baron de Vaux. These plantings, uncharacteristic of this locality and covering two hectares, have the status of a monument of landscape-gardening art and a rather unkempt look.
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| A 19th-c. park. A monument of landscape-gardening art |
Hospital blocks are scattered over the grounds of a former manorial estate. The therapy department is housed in the Lubomyrsky mansion, rebuilt in 1933 on the site of the palace of Kozim de Vaux, which had been destroyed during the First World War.
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| The Lubomyrsky palace. Now the therapy department. An architectural monument of local significance |
The rotunda marked on the plan I could not find; the medical staff and the hospital's visitors had heard nothing of it. What could it have been — a pavilion or a gazebo? Someone had decided to embellish the neglected park with a mythical highlight, and I was sorry for the time spent looking for it.
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| A 19th-c. park. A plan of the estate and the hospital grounds |
Bohdan Khmelnytsky Street, on which the hospital stands, is 1.5 kilometres long, and along it I continued my route.
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| Bohdan Khmelnytsky Street |
Not a very happy spot for the monument to the national poet, who gazes sadly at the crowds by the bus station and the trading pavilions.
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| Monument to I. Ya. Franko |
One of the finest buildings in Hodoriv was called the Brigade House. The former hotel belonged to a Jew, Taichman. Balls and concerts were held in its great hall.
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| Taichman's former hotel |
On this street the first lamp appeared, to light the boggy stretches. Here the young people gathered for a 'kavalerka' (a spot of courting), calling this place 'under the lamp'.
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| Khmelnytsky Street. The old road. Residential houses |
The old road — as Khmelnytsky Street is also called — brought me to Zluky Square, in the centre of which, by the little shops, rises a statue of the Hetman of Ukraine. During the war of liberation led by Khmelnytsky, the peasants and townsfolk of Hodoriv joined the rebels and drove the szlachta out of the Galician towns and villages.
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| Monument to Bohdan Khmelnytsky |
From the square Shevchenko Street runs off in both directions. This thoroughfare is part of the international highway M-12 (E-50), by which you can travel south-east to the Caucasus and west — as far as Paris.
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| A mill at the start of Shevchenko Street |
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| Shevchenko Street |
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| Shevchenko Street. A chapel |
The townsfolk consider their pond the best place for fishing, where they relax with a rod on the bank of the picturesque water. It is no accident that on Hodoriv's coat of arms, which I shall see at the end of my journey, a fisherman with a 'spider' net is depicted.
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| Hodoriv. The pond |
The town is mentioned at the end of the 14th century as Hodoriv-Stav. It stood on an island between the Luha River and a pond formed on it. On the island a castle with towers and a drawbridge was built. From the stockade to the town led Zamkova Street, on which, in 1436, the lord of that time raised a wooden church, which suffered from fires and from destruction by the Tatar and Swedish invasions. In 1779, on the site of the ruined shrine, the architect Richter built a stone church in the style of the old European Roman Catholic churches.
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| The Church of All Saints. 1779 |
In Soviet times this architectural monument was turned into a shop, later into a gymnasium. In the 2000s the Church of All Saints was returned to the faithful, but the murals and the decor of the oldest sacred building in Hodoriv could not be restored.
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| The Church of All Saints. A sculpture of Pope John Paul II |
The presbytery, built in 1892, belongs to School No. 2.
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| The Church of All Saints. A former monastery. Now School No. 2 |
Having turned off Zamkova Street, I continued my walk non-stop along the central Shevchenko Street.
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| Shevchenko Street. Residential houses |
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| Shevchenko Street. Shops |
The houses in this district were called the Jewish corridors.
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| Shevchenko Street. Residential houses |
Before the Second World War a large Jewish community lived in Hodoriv. The old wooden synagogue of the 17th century was destroyed by the Hitlerites.
Of the former market a signboard remains.
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| The former market |
In the middle of the 15th century Hodoriv received Magdeburg rights, and perhaps the Market Square was located here.
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| Residential houses on Honta Street |
The oldest educational establishment, built in 1925, houses the local history museum.
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| Shevchenko Street. School No. 1. 1925 |
On the facade of School No. 1 a bas-relief was unveiled to the Ukrainian writers Dmytro Makohon and his daughter Iryna Vilde.
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| A memorial plaque to Dmytro Makohon and Iryna Vilde, who worked in this building |
The rising generation takes classes in the sections and clubs of the 'Budivelnyk' sports complex and the children's art school.
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| Shevchenko Street. The children's art school |
Above the one- and two-storey buildings rises the majestic Church of the Holy Unmercenaries Cosmas and Damian.
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| Hodoriv. The Church of the Holy Unmercenaries Cosmas and Damian |
Its construction began in 1922 on the initiative of Metropolitan Sheptytsky and under the direction of the architect Rudnytsky, on the site of an old wooden church.
After long neglect and ruin the shrine was reconstructed and consecrated anew. The majestic church was crowned with seven domes, and its murals were done by talented masters.
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| The Church of the Holy Unmercenaries Cosmas and Damian. A memorial plaque in honour of Markiian Shashkevych |
The memory of the priest Yakiv Dovhy, who was repressed and died in exile, is honoured by a memorial plaque near the entrance to the church.
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| The Church of the Holy Unmercenaries Cosmas and Damian. A memorial plaque in honour of Yakiv Dovhy |
For the 2,000th anniversary of Christianity a sculptural image of Jesus Christ was set up.
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| A sculpture of Jesus Christ |
Now most of the buildings in Hodoriv are of stone; they are called just that — kamianytsi. Numerous fires have done the town great damage. The surviving wooden buildings are living out their days.
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| An old house on Bohdan Khmelnytsky Street |
For fire safety, a fire-and-rescue station operates in Hodoriv.
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| The fire station |
Framed by spruces and flower beds, Shevchenko Square is adorned by a monument to the Kobzar.
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| Shevchenko Square and the monument to the Kobzar |
From here begins Mykhailo Hrushevsky Street, formerly Korzo, then Mickiewicz, then Lenin Street. The historic building at No. 2 is mentioned in 1890, when the county court was located in it. Here, in February 1919, a delegation of the Entente met the head of the Directory of the Ukrainian People's Republic, Symon Petliura.
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| Hrushevsky Street. School No. 3 |
Now the building is occupied by School No. 3, which has been given the name of the Hero of Ukraine Roman Tochyn, a former pupil.
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| School No. 3. A memorial plaque in honour of Roman Tochyn |
The Alley of Memory, opened in 2014, is dedicated to all the people of Hodoriv who died during the Revolution of Dignity and in the east of Ukraine, defending the integrity of the state.
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| Hrushevsky Street. The Alley of Memory |
On house No. 23, where an NKVD prison was located, a memorial sign to the victims of the Stalinist regime has been set up.
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| Hrushevsky Street. A memorial sign to the victims of the NKVD |
At the beginning of the 20th century the cultural and educational life of Hodoriv grew stronger with the opening of a People's House, built with the money of patriotically minded well-to-do townsfolk.
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| Hrushevsky Street. The 'Prosvita' People's House. 1911 |
On the same street a House of Culture later appeared, in which amateur clubs are active.
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| Hrushevsky Street. The House of Culture |
The facade of the building is adorned with the town's coat of arms, showing a fisherman on the Hodoriv pond.
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| The House of Culture. The town's coat of arms |
It is a rare case where a town-hall building is put up not with budget funds but with the personal money of the town's residents. The three Sokhan brothers, in honour of the tenth anniversary of Ukraine's Independence, presented the community of Hodoriv with a small palazzo, with columns, a balcony and dormer windows, in which the town administration now sits.
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| Hrushevsky Street. The Hodoriv town council |
From the town council to the railway station is but a stone's throw. In two hours I made a five-kilometre promenade through the centre of Hodoriv, getting to know its sights. My thanks to the people of Hodoriv whom I chanced to meet, who, to my questions 'where is it?' and 'how do I get there?', added interesting stories and legends to their answers.
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| The railway station |
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