Rivne is a regional centre of Ukraine with a history of over 700 years. The first written mention of the city dates to 1283, but historians name another figure — the 11th century. During the Second World War the city suffered greatly, and few historical monuments remained in it, but new ones have been created that a tourist will find interesting to get acquainted with. In 1944, during the liberation of Rivne from the Nazis, the railway station was blown up by underground fighters. In 1952 a new station building was erected, and now its facade is adorned with the trident and the ancient coat of arms of the city. From here we will begin our acquaintance with the city.
The railway was opened in 1898 and linked Rivne, via
Lunynets and
Pinsk with Brest and Vilnius. Emperors Alexander III and Nicholas II, ministers, a metropolitan, writers and other well-known personalities arrived at this station by train. From this station hundreds of freight wagons carrying undesirable Ukrainians were sent to Siberia under NKVD guard.
On the other side of the station, under Polish rule, a specimen of urban water-supply architecture in the brick style appeared.
Next to the water tower, the end wall of the instrument building of the high-voltage equipment plant is decorated with a mosaic panel depicting specialists working with high-precision apparatus.
Moving from the station along Myru Street, crossing the Ustia river by the bridge and turning onto Shevchenko Street, connoisseurs of wooden architecture will see the oldest surviving religious building of Rivne, preserved undamaged. The Holy Dormition Church was built in 1756 and has the status of an architectural monument of national significance. In the godless times, believers brought holy images from the closed churches into the Dormition Church.
Symon Petliura Street, winding like the old bed of the Ustia river, is interesting to tourists in the historical aspect.
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| Symon Petliura Street. The regional library for children |
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| Symon Petliura Street, 19 |
In one of the surviving mansions of the early 20th century is the amber museum, which displays specimens of the sun stone 40 million years old and weighing 2 kilograms.
The repertoire of the regional puppet theatre includes plays by Ukrainian and foreign authors, and on the facade fairy-tale characters invite you to a performance.
The short Slovatskoho Street, paved with cobblestones on the site of a former marsh, has preserved architectural features a century old.
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| Slovatskoho Street, 3. The city department of the State Migration Service Directorate |
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| Slovatskoho Street, 8. A residential building |
The city dwellers call the avenues around the flowering flowerbeds Broadway, and on a hot day the bowl of the fountain turns into a swimming pool.
Here young Rivne residents come into the world.
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| Mickiewicz Street. The perinatal centre. The sculpture of mother and child |
For the most part the sculptural depiction of T. H. Shevchenko is static. In Rivne the bronze Kobzar strides widely across Independence Square with the wings of his cloak spread out, for which he is compared to Batman.
Youth Park is part of the former estate park of the Lubomirski princes. This popular place of recreation is called "Lebedynka" by the townspeople, after the name of the Swan Lake.
An avenue leads to it with wrought-iron sculptures donated by craftsmen during festivals of the blacksmith's craft. The city was destroyed by fire more than once, and the townspeople expressed their gratitude to the firefighters in the form of a sculpture of a fireman holding a rescued child in his arms.
Amusing adornments of the extravagant Maiden Darynka have been made by blacksmiths from various regions of Ukraine.
Wondrous fish speak in the language of fish.
Having walked through the gallery of masterpieces of the blacksmith's art, you come to the local history museum, housed in the building of the former boys' gymnasium of 1839.
Beside the surviving architectural monument, an open-air exhibition of military equipment has been set up, and specimens of basalt columns, formed from volcanic lava 500-600 million years ago, are on display.
In 1942-1944 the Nazis chose Rivne as the centre of the Reich Commissariat Ukraine. The residence of Gauleiter Heinrich Koch was located in the museum building. The Reich Commissar's underground headquarters is situated 50 metres from the historic building. After the war the bunker, equipped with all utilities, was used as a bomb shelter by party bosses.
The first Ukrainian gymnasium was opened in 1923, when, under Polish rule, the word "Ukrainian" was not used. But the teacher F. I. Pekarsky initiated its construction and was the director of the school until 1939.
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| 24 Serpnia Street. The Ukrainian gymnasium |
Having admired the inhabitants of the Swan Lake, we come out onto Soborna Street.
On the central city thoroughfare rise two cathedrals — the Holy Intercession and the Holy Resurrection, the latter built in 1895 on the site of a previous church that burned down in a fire.
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| Soborna Street. The Holy Resurrection Cathedral |
In the three- to five-storey residential buildings, built in the 1950s, all sorts of shops, banks and offices of commercial enterprises are housed.
The buildings have not lost the architectural details of Stalinist Empire style and socialist realism, and have acquired new details in their decor.
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| Soborna Street. The "Avanhard" children's and youth sports school. The former synagogue |
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| Soborna Street, 156 |
Rivne's transport economy is represented by Czechoslovak trolleybuses of 1974 manufacture, which have proved their reliability in operation.
Adjoining the busy street is Theatre Square, with a monument to the writer and publicist Ulas Samchuk. A native of the Rivne region, he was one of the finest men of letters, who told the whole world, in the language of a European, about the struggle for the independence of Ukraine and the Holodomor.
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| Theatre Square. The monument to Ulas Samchuk |
The peculiarity of the Rivne temple of Melpomene is that, besides the stage in the auditorium, there is a stage in the inner courtyard, where performances can be staged in the open air.
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| The Music and Drama Theatre |
In the business and administrative centre, with views from its windows onto Theatre Square and Soborna Street, stands the "Ukraina" hotel.
In 2006 the people of Rivne immortalised the memory of Princess Maria Nesvitska (Rivnenska), who sits on a throne beneath the dome of a rotunda. The white-marble sculpture of the owner and guardian of Rivne rises above the entrances to the underground shops and public conveniences.
One of the most beautiful buildings is the House of Organ and Chamber Music, the former Roman Catholic Church of St Anthony. The shrine suffered during two world wars and in the post-war years, losing its murals, its organ, its towers with Gothic spires and its church furnishings. The wonderful acoustics saved this architectural monument in the neo-Gothic style, and concerts of chamber music are held in its hall on a regular basis.
In 2018 a street clock showing the exact time was installed on the facade, and by the entrance appeared an angel playing the harp.
On the embankment stands the Greek Catholic Church of St Nicholas and its spiritual centre.
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| The Church of St Nicholas. The spiritual centre |
It would be good to tidy up the embankment, for such places always adorn a city. Unfortunately, at present the untidy appearance of the shoreline cannot attract holidaymakers: the concrete embankments are overgrown with grass, and there is much rubbish and many stray dogs.
For two and a half kilometres along the Ustia river stretches a children's railway. From May to October, on weekends and holidays, young Rivne residents have the chance to get acquainted with the professions of railway workers and to ride from Partyzanska station to Ozerna station.
The historical and cultural monument, the "Partyzan" cinema, built in 1918, gave way to the construction of a modern trade and business centre with the same name.
Beside this new building stands a residential house of 1914 with only partial amenities, in which the residents no longer hope to improve their living conditions. The demolition planned for 1997 has not been carried out for more than 20 years.
Next to the house are trivial mountains of rubbish.
All the same, in a few hours' walk around Rivne it was possible to see a great deal and to assess the tourist appeal of Rivne. There are quite a few landmarks, parks, museums, monuments and religious buildings in the city. What the city lacks is tidiness, polish and creativity.
In the Rivne region travellers will find it interesting to see
the Tarakaniv Fort, the town of
Dubno and
Dubno Castle,
Klevan and the Tunnel of Love.
You can get to Rivne by train from
Kyiv,
Lviv,
Novooleksiivka, Kharkiv, Kovel,
Mykolaiv.
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