Zhovkva. A Walk with History

To immerse yourself in the unique atmosphere of the Renaissance and see the historic centre of an ideal town of the early 17th century — welcome to Zhovkva, an old town of Prykarpattia.

Zhovkva. Viche Square. The Town Hall. The fountain

This district centre of the Lviv region lies 25 kilometres from Lviv, at the crossing of international highways towards the Baltic states and Poland. Passers-through are met by an entrance sign with characteristic bas-reliefs and the date of Zhovkva's founding — 1368.

The first historical and architectural monument on Lvivska Street is the Church of the Holy Trinity, built in 1720 by the parishioners and Prince Sobieski on the site of an even older one, which had burned down in 1719.

Lvivska Street. The Church of the Holy Trinity. 1720

The stone annexe to the wooden church is the sacristy.

This masterpiece of Galician wooden architecture is under the protection of UNESCO.

In every town and almost every village of Prykarpattia, the memory of the poet-prophet is honoured.

Lvivska Street. Monument to T. H. Shevchenko

Beyond a small public garden, named in honour of Andriy Vnenkevych, who died while fighting the fire at the Hrybovychi landfill, stand two churches — the Church of St Lazarus of 1730 and the Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul of 1993.

Lvivska Street. The public garden named after Andriy Vnenkevych

Lvivska Street. The Orthodox Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul

These monuments are not part of the complex of buildings of mediaeval Zhovkva, and the popular tourist routes do not run past them.

An information board

By bus the traveller will arrive right at the defensive walls of the Dominican Monastery, built in 1653 to the design and at the expense of Theophila Sobieska, mother of the future king, in memory of her elder son Marek, who fell on the field of battle.

The bus station beneath the walls of the Dominican Monastery

He, together with his comrades who had been taken captive by the Tatars, was beheaded on the orders of Khmelnytsky. His mother buried the ransomed body in the cloister, where she herself later found her last refuge. The six-altar Church of St Josaphat is surrounded by stone cells, which replaced wooden ones in the 18th century. The monastery, like the other objects of Zhovkva's historic core, is under restoration.

The walls and watchtower of the Dominican Monastery

The cells of the Dominican Monastery

Zhovkva. The Church of St Josaphat. 1653

The slow restoration of one of the largest synagogues in Ukraine has dragged on for many years. To this fortified place of worship, with its loopholes and watchtower, the town walls were joined, and a whole arsenal could be housed on its roof. In the years of the Second World War the building suffered destruction, but its Renaissance decoration survived. The late-17th-century synagogue was among the hundred monuments of the world in a threatening state, but later the shrine was removed from that register.

The synagogue

According to the idea of Mykhailo Shchaslyvy, the architect of the 'ideal' town, all the buildings in Zhovkva were to be arranged in accordance with the organs of the human body. The Church of the Most Sacred Heart of Christ and the Church of St Lawrence symbolise the two halves of the heart, as the unity of two churches. The first dates from 1612. At the end of the 17th century a monastery was founded around it. In 1903 the shrine was considerably enlarged.

Zhovkva. The Church of the Most Sacred Heart of Christ

The Monastery of the Nativity of Christ of the Basilian Fathers

With the coming of Soviet rule the Greek Catholic church was closed, the priests arrested, and an NKVD prison was set up in the monastery's premises. In 2002 about 200 skeletons of victims of the Stalinist regime were found during repair work, among them 45 children. For a time the cloister served as a school for the children of servicemen, of whom there were more in the town than local residents.

In the years of Independence the church was returned to the faithful. I will add that with Russian-speaking tourists the priest will hold a conversation in their native tongue.

The Monastery of the Nativity of Christ of the Basilian Fathers

The Church of St Lawrence was built at the beginning of the 17th century and has the status of an architectural monument of national significance. In the crypt of the church are buried the founder of Zhovkva, Stanislav Zholkevsky, with members of his family, and other distinguished personages.

The Church of St Lawrence. 1618

The bas-relief framing of the family vault is considered the most exquisite Renaissance portal in Ukraine and Poland.

The Church of St Lawrence. 1618

The three-tier octagonal defensive tower was raised at the end of the 17th century. Time, fires and rebuildings have tilted the bell tower slightly, for which it is often called the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

The Church of St Lawrence. The bell tower

The Hlynska Gate, which had opened the road to Krakow since the 16th century, got in the way of Soviet military vehicles in the 1960s and was destroyed. Through the efforts of the Society for the Protection of Cultural Monuments the gate was restored; it is adorned with pediments bearing the coats of arms of Zhovkva's founders — the Zholkevsky and Sobieski families.

The Hlynska Gate

In the architects' plans the castle performs the function of the town's head. The royal residence was part of the town's fortification system, and the defensive walls were joined to it. The palazzo has endured destruction, rebuildings and various uses.

The castle.

 The walls from the castle to the gate

As recently as the start of the 21st century its premises served as housing stock. Sculptures, columns and grand staircases have long ceased to adorn the palace, and its walls have sunk several metres into the ground.

Zhovkva Castle

In a small museum, for a symbolic fee, they will tell you the history of the castle and let you into the inner courtyard, which is in need of repair and restoration.

Zhovkva Castle. The inner courtyard

The castle. The museum. A reproduction of a painting

Behind the castle a castle park was laid out, with terraces, sculptures and fountains. Seventy trees have survived to our day, and there is hope that this monument of landscape-gardening art will come alive again, the first steps in this direction having already been taken.

The 'Zvirynets' park. A sculpture of bears

The castle's dimensions of 120×120 metres equal the dimensions of Viche Square, which accords with the norms of the Renaissance conception of the 'ideal' town and symbolises the equality and the interdependence between the authorities and the people.

Viche Square

The town administration of Zhovkva is housed in the Town Hall building, built in 1932 on the foundation of a 17th-century predecessor.

Viche Square. The Town Hall. 1932

Once you have climbed to the viewing platform, Zhovkva opens up before your eyes as if on the palm of your hand. And on the steps of the clock tower there is a local-history exhibition, the 'Museum of the Old Town'.

On the historic square of this town of 13,000 people, a place of execution has survived, which is unusual for a square where festive events, the filming of wedding ceremonies and folk festivities are held today.

Zhovkva. Viche Square. The place of execution

Once market trading was carried on here, and in the middle of the square there was a well, and the townsfolk, having drawn water from it, carried it off to their homes.

Viche Square. The cellars of a demolished block

The houses on Viche Square were built in the 17th-19th centuries of brick and stone.

Zhovkva. Viche Square. Residential houses

In the two-storey buildings with arcades, galleries and cross vaults, numerous little shops and cafés are open now as before.

Viche Square, 5

 Viche Square, 7

Lvivska Street, 26

From the square the town's streets take their start and branch off in different directions, where monuments of various periods stand.

Ivan Rutkovych Street

Ivan Bohun Street. A glade of irises

Vasylianska Street. A tower house

On the corner of Vasylianska Street and Vynnykivska Street

Krypiakevych Street. The Church of the Heart of Christ

 Vynnykivska Street

Lvivska Street

The mansions of the Austrian and Polish periods house various organisations.

Stepan Bandera Street. The Centre for Children's and Youth Creativity

 Stepan Bandera Street. The police station

UPA Fighters Street. The Palace of Ceremonial Occasions

UPA Fighters Street. The post office

Zhovkva is a sporting town, with a football club of the same name.

UPA Fighters Street. The 'Roztochchia' football stadium

The Svynia is a river in Zhovkva, and its name is linked with the siting here, at the start of the 18th century, of Peter I's headquarters. During his visit the emperor was zigzagging along the bank of the little river and failed to keep his balance.

The Svynia River

Walking along the Svynia to the northern edge of the town, you can see another wooden place of worship — the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, built in 1705 on the site of an even older one.

The Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. 1705

On the bank of Zhovkva's blue artery stands an old slaughterhouse. The building is being restored; what will be opened in it is unknown.

Stanislav Liudkevych Street. The old town slaughterhouse

Tourists will find it interesting to visit the Krekhiv Monastery and the cave monastery in Stradch. Five kilometres from Zhovkva stands the monument to the First World War ace Pyotr Nesterov, the creator of the 'dead loop' aerobatic manoeuvre, whose name the town bore for 40 years.

To get to Zhovkva from Lviv you can take a suburban train from the railway station or a minibus from bus station No. 2, every 15-30 minutes.

Coordinates: 50°3'20"N 23°58'16"E