Ivano-Frankivsk. The Tourists' Choice Award

Every day tourists arrive in Ivano-Frankivsk from every region to set off on a hike into the Carpathians. If a traveller has 2-3 hours to spare, it is worth taking a stroll through this cultural and economic centre of Ukraine. One of the finest regional cities of our country has preserved the architecture of the Austrian and Polish periods; in Frankivsk, as it is lovingly called, there are many parks, museums and landmarks. And, of course, creative cafes, caramel workshops and souvenir shops.

Ivano-Frankivsk. The Market Square. The Town Hall

The walk can begin at the Town Hall, a 50-metre building with a 400-year history. The fourth Magistrate building since the granting of Magdeburg rights, it was erected in 1935 in the constructivist style. In plan the structure resembles the Polish military order that was awarded to the soldiers who destroyed the ZUNR. Stanislav, as the city was then called, was the capital of the West Ukrainian People's Republic. The four-sided chimes show the exact time, marking its fleeting passage every quarter of an hour and playing 12 Ukrainian melodies. The Town Hall houses a local history museum with rich and varied displays. Tourists will find it useful to know that the climb to the observation deck of the clock tower is possible through the museum, but on Monday, its day off, the ascent will have to be postponed.

The designers took an unconventional approach to the fountain on the Market Square. Someone is about to hatch from a cracked egg, and a new life will begin. Water and the egg are the foundation of life, of nature and of the human being.

The city traces its beginning to the construction of the Town Hall and the Market Square. Building traditions in the cities under Magdeburg law called for the erection of two- and three-storey houses.

The modern square is framed by six-storey buildings as well.

The central city square hosts festive events, public celebrations and exhibitions. The main streets of the historic centre, which appeared in the 17th-18th centuries, branch off from the square. Let us turn onto Halytska Street.

Halytska Street, 9. The "Franko" Restaurant

In 1882 the teaching block of the medical university was intended for the Directorate of the Austrian Railway, which was intensively laying main lines across Galicia.

Halytska Street, 2. The medical university

I. Ya. Franko, whose name the city has borne since 1962, spoke on more than one occasion in the university library building.

Halytska Street, 7a. The library of the medical university

The Habsburg monarch beloved in Galicia invites tourists to stay at a hotel named in honour of his most serene person.

Halytska Street, 11a. The "Franz" Hotel

The Cathedral of the Holy Resurrection is the main Greek Catholic church of Ivano-Frankivsk. The shrine was built in 1762 in the Austro-Bavarian Baroque style.

Sheptytsky Square. The Cathedral of the Holy Resurrection

The cathedral's facade is adorned with sculptural and bas-relief images of holy martyrs and of Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky.

Sheptytsky Square. The Cathedral of the Holy Resurrection. The bas-relief of Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky

A monument has been erected in honour of the Ukrainian Moses, and the square adjoining the cathedral has been named after him. Sheptytsky Square is a venue for all manner of creative festivals and vernissages, whose participants present the city with installations, sculptures and other creative works.

Sheptytsky Square. The monument to Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky

One of the finest collections of sacred art is kept in the art museum, which occupies the building of a former Roman Catholic church with the status of an architectural monument of national significance.

Sheptytsky Square. The art museum

Ivano-Frankivsk belongs to the association "The Wheel of the Blacksmith Cities of Europe". The wrought-iron carousel is crowned with 17 medallions bearing the coats of arms of the member cities of the union.

For more than 175 years, lovers of hot steam and heartfelt conversation have gathered at one of the oldest bathhouses in Ukraine, on Nyzova Street.

Nyzova Street, 9. The bathhouse

A street named after the UGCC Patriarch Lubomyr Husar, on which buildings of the Austrian era have been preserved, led out to the remains of the fortification wall.

Lubomyr Husar Street, 15. The inter-school educational complex. 1898.

Lubomyr Husar Street, 9

The Stanislav fortress was founded in 1662 by the city's founder, the Polish magnate Andrzej Potocki. Today, in the casemates of the restored fortress, the "Bastion" gallery has been created, where artistic events are held. The former defensive structure has been filled with boutiques, cafes and restaurants.

Fortechnyi Lane. The remains of the Stanislav fortress

From the fortress begins one of the two oldest streets, Hetman Mazepa Street, on which almost all the buildings hold the status of an architectural monument and have a rich history reaching back to the 18th century. Its first name, "Brukovana", was changed about 10 times — a record for Ivano-Frankivsk.

King Danylo Street, 10

Pedestrian streets have a special tourist appeal. Nezalezhnosti Street is called the "hundred-metre", although the length of the promenade comes to about half a kilometre.

Nezalezhnosti Street, 4

Nezalezhnosti Street, 17

Nezalezhnosti Street, 19

Nezalezhnosti Street, 21

Nezalezhnosti Street, 29

The wrought-iron compositions are gifts from the participants of the annual festival of the blacksmith's craft.

Nezalezhnosti Street. The Tree of Happiness

Adjoining Nezalezhnosti Street is Ivan Franko Square, with its Ivan Franko Music and Drama Theatre and the monument to the Kamenyar.

Ivan Franko Square. The I. Ya. Franko Music and Drama Theatre

Ivan Franko Square. The monument to the Kamenyar

Tourists can stay at the 380-room "Nadiia" hotel, a restored typical hotel building of the Soviet period.

Ivan Franko Square. The "Nadiia" Hotel

The pedagogical institute, built in 1990, bears the name of the Ukrainian poet Vasyl Stefanyk.

Stepan Bandera Street. The pedagogical institute

There is a great deal of creativity on the streets of Ivano-Frankivsk. The House of the Artist is decorated with a mosaic panel in the national tradition.

Nezalezhnosti Street. The House of the Artist

On Shashkevych, Mykhailo Hrushevsky and other thoroughfares of the historic core stand elite townhouses, tenement buildings, banks and educational institutions.

Sich Riflemen Street, 90

Shashkevych Street, 4. 1905.

Mykhailo Hrushevsky Street, 4. 1905.

Mykhailo Hrushevsky Street, 7. 1904.

The city centre, with its developed transport network and heavy flows of people, is not without a green zone for rest. The square and public garden named after Adam Mickiewicz were called so from the very start, although the Polish classic never once visited Stanislav.

Adam Mickiewicz Square and the monument to the poet

Adam Mickiewicz Square, 2. The children's library

Adam Mickiewicz Square, 1

Besides the monument to the poet, a bronze sculpture of a Plast scout with a knapsack has been installed here.

Adam Mickiewicz Square. The monument to the Plast scout for the 100th anniversary of the "Plast" organisation

In the nearby public garden of the medical academy, a monument has been unveiled to the authors of the first book in the Ukrainian language in the western Ukrainian lands — Markiian Shashkevych, Ivan Vahylevych and Yakiv Holovatsky.

The monument to Markiian Shashkevych, Ivan Vahylevych and Yakiv Holovatsky

From any point in the historic centre of Ivano-Frankivsk, the gilded dome of the Town Hall and the state flag of Ukraine can be seen from everywhere as a landmark.

Mickiewicz Square is joined to the Market Square by the shortest and narrowest little street, Ivan Trush Street, on which stands a hotel that was formerly called the "Bristol".

Ivan Trush Street. The hotel

The walk along the ancient streets of Ivano-Frankivsk took about three hours; the time was spent usefully and with pleasure. Unfortunately, not all the fountains offered coolness on that hot May day.

Ivan Franko Square. The fountain

Vicheva Square. The fountain

You can reach this Precarpathian city by train from Kyiv, Odesa, Kharkiv, Lviv, Stryi, Khodoriv, Chernivtsi, Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi, Henichesk, Mykolaiv and other cities of Ukraine.

The railway station. 1866.

Coordinates of the Town Hall: 48°55'21"N 24°42'37"E