Yaremche. A fairy-tale walk taking in architectural and natural landmarks in the park of miniatures

Parks of miniatures enjoy great popularity with tourists and have an educational purpose. Adults and children feel like Gullivers in the land of the Lilliputians as they walk among the scaled-down copies of palaces, castles and natural landmarks. In Ukraine, parks of miniatures have been created in Kyiv, in the Crimea, and since 2015 in Yaremche in the Ivano-Frankivsk region. This small open-air museum presents the architectural and natural landmarks of the Carpathian land.

 

Yaremche. Ivano-Frankivsk region. The park-museum of miniatures

The jeweller's work of the masters who made the exhibits deserves great respect.

On a small area are gathered models of all the well-known gems of the Yaremche and Verkhovyna areas, and rarities are represented too - for example, the sculpture of Queen Jadwiga from Mykulychyn.

Yaremche. A copy of the sculpture of Queen Jadwiga in the park of miniatures

Mykulychyn. The sculpture of Queen Jadwiga on the grounds of the former students' sanatorium

Some prototypes have been recreated from archival photographic documents, since over time they turned into ruins or underwent a radical rebuilding. The viaduct bridge designed by the Lviv professor Zygmunt Kulka was erected in Yaremche in 1896. This crossing over the Prut, which became a model for many European engineering structures, was half-destroyed during the First World War and demolished by the Hitlerites in 1944. A copy of the first-class technical structure has entered the collection of the park-museum.

Yaremche. The ruined viaduct bridge

Yaremche. A copy of the ruined viaduct bridge

Attention is drawn to the model, restored to the smallest detail, of the former observatory on Mount Pip Ivan, which has lost its purpose but is one of the most famous tourist spots in the Carpathians.

Yaremche. A copy of the observatory and meteorological station on Mount Pip Ivan

In 2014 a fire destroyed, down to the first tier, the Church of St. Elijah the Prophet in the old village of Dora, a suburb of Yaremche. The newly rebuilt church differs substantially from the burned one, erected in 1938 with elements of Ukrainian architectural Art Nouveau. A scaled-down likeness of the original shrine rises on the park lawn.

Dora. The Church of St. Elijah the Prophet, rebuilt in 2015

Yaremche. A copy of the Church of St. Elijah the Prophet before its reconstruction

On the slopes of the Carpathian ridges, almost no Hutsul fortress-dwellings have survived, in the form of an enclosed yard with living quarters and outbuildings. A restored grazhda could be seen in Lviv at the museum of folk architecture "Shevchenkivskyi Hai" and in the village of Kryvorivnia in the Verkhovyna district. On the park clearing a copy of a Hutsul dwelling has been recreated, in the form of an enclosed yard with a dwelling house, barns and a gate. In February 2022 the grazhda exhibit at the open-air museum burned down.

Lviv. The Klymentiy Sheptytskyi Museum of Folk Architecture and Rural Life. The grazhda before the fire

Yaremche. A copy of the grazhda cottage from the village of Kryvorivnia, Verkhovyna district

The beautiful ski resort of Vorokhta is represented by two sacred buildings. The Church of the Nativity of the Most Holy Mother of God was built in Yablunytsia in 1615 and moved to its permanent location in 1780.

Yaremche. A copy of the Church of the Nativity of the Most Holy Mother of God

Vorokhta. Church of the Nativity of the Most Holy Mother of God. An architectural landmark

Doubles of the landmark of Hutsul wooden architecture and of the Roman Catholic Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary of 1906 adorn the park's display.

Vorokhta. Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Yaremche. A copy of the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary

A gift of nature delights the eye - the "Probiy" waterfall - and beside it a duplicate of a masterpiece of wooden architecture, the "Hutsulshchyna" restaurant, built in 1953 in Yaremche.

Yaremche. The "Hutsulshchyna" restaurant

Yaremche. A copy of the "Hutsulshchyna" restaurant

At a scale of 1:25 a specimen of Austrian railway heritage is reproduced - the station of the Tatariv halt of 1894.

Tatariv. The station of the Tatariv halt

Yaremche. A copy of the railway station of the Tatariv halt

Visitors are delighted by the imitation of a stretch of railway with tunnels and arched bridges, and by the movement of an almost toy-like steam locomotive with two carriages along the arc-shaped steel line.

Yaremche. A stretch of railway (a scaled-down copy)

The bridge over the Probiy waterfall on the river Prut has been named the most romantic in Ukraine.

 

Yaremche. The bridge over the Probiy waterfall (a copy)

On the summit of Khomiak in the Gorgany massif, Ukrainians bow in reverence beside a sculpture of the Most Holy Mother of God.

Mount Khomiak. The sculpture of the Most Holy Mother of God. View from Polonyna Zalim

Yaremche. A copy of the sculpture of the Mother of God in the park of miniatures

The five-metre figure of a partisan, with a submachine gun raised in his hand, blocking the way into the mountains, stands on the mass grave of partisans and Red Army soldiers.

 

Yaremche. The park of miniatures. A copy of the monument to the partisans

Yaremche. The monument to the partisans

This cultural and educational space is drowning in greenery, which lends the park authenticity and naturalness.

 

Yaremche. The park of miniatures. A recreated Chornohora ridge

The project was carried out on the territory and at the initiative of the Carpathian National Nature Park. A walk around the mini-skansen can be taken on your own, but with a guide the tour turns into a fairy-tale journey. Admission to the grounds in 2022 is 30 hryvnias for adults and 20 hryvnias for children. There are discounts for privileged categories. Visitors can rest in this green oasis, far from the transport systems and the resort bustle, in cosy gazebos on the picturesque bank of the river Zhonka, and see waterfalls in the bed of the water stream.

 

Yaremche. The river Zhonka and a gazebo

The park is located in the western part of Yaremche.

Coordinates: 48°26'41"N 24°32'13"E

Two hundred metres from the park-museum, travellers can visit the enclosures with inhabitants of the Carpathian forests and domestic pets.

Yaremche. The enclosures of the Carpathian National Nature Park