Horbachi. Every Ukrainian Village Has Its Own Character, Rules and Ways

In Ukraine every village has its own history, whose roots reach into the distant past and the times of paganism. The churches and houses in villages and small towns preserve the architectural style and the hand of their master craftsmen. It is good when a community keeps its cultural heritage, its unique dialect and its local traditions. The village of Horbachi lies 40 kilometres south of Lviv, and it too has its own masterpieces and singular features.

 

Horbachi, Lviv region. The Church of St Ignatius

From the Cherkasy railway platform an asphalt road leads to the centre of Horbachi, bordered by water meadows, hayfields and vegetable plots.

 

Horbachi. The road from the railway to the village

The first written mention of the settlement dates to 1476, and the toponym, according to local historians, comes from the nickname of the first settler. You can picture what village dwellings looked like at the beginning of the 20th century from a surviving house divided into two halves, with a separate entrance to the barn. No one lives in the home now, but the building is not being taken down.

 

Horbachi. An old homestead

Here and there you can see the nests of storks — guardian angels of family life and domestic cosiness.

Horbachi. Storks – a symbol of patriotism and renewal

In Horbachi, as in every village in the Lviv region, the freedom-loving people erected a Cross of Freedom to mark the abolition of serfdom in Galicia in 1848.

 

Horbachi. The Cross of Freedom. 1848

The memorial sign was raised at a crossroads, from which a road leads west to the old cemetery with burials from the end of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. The stone gravestones are decorated with bas-reliefs and sculptures of saints.

 

Horbachi. Bas-reliefs in the cemetery

Some crosses are set perpendicular to the others, which sets this village cemetery apart from other places of eternal rest. According to local residents, this is how the graves of priests and honoured members of the community were marked.

 

Horbachi. Crosses in the cemetery

Buried in the cemetery are 19 UPA soldiers from neighbouring Cherkasy, who fell in 1944-1946 at the hands of the NKVD executioners. Most of them were young people born in the 1920s, and only one was born in 1910. Judging by their surnames, many of them were relatives.

 

Horbachi. Memorial sign to the UPA soldiers

From the Cross of Freedom we head north along the main, unnamed street. The buildings are laid out along a small stream, a tributary of the Shchyrka (the Dniester basin).

 

Horbachi. The stream in the village

Little bridges are thrown across the stream to the homesteads, which are drowning in cherry and apple orchards.

Horbachi. A crossing over the stream to the homesteads

In the central part of the village the blue artery widens, turning into a picturesque pond with fishing spots.

 

Horbachi. The pond

One of the very first monuments to T. H. Shevchenko was unveiled in Horbachi. For the 100th anniversary of the national poet-prophet, the stonemason Dzyndra from the village of Demnia carved a bust of the Kobzar. In 1914 a sculptural portrait of Taras Hryhorovych rose on a tall pedestal in the centre of the village.

 

Horbachi. The monument to T. H. Shevchenko. 1914

You can count on your fingers the memorial signs to Lesia Ukrainka erected in our country. An image in stone of the talented writer and poet is kept on the school grounds. In Soviet times the collective farm in Horbachi was named after this daughter of the Ukrainian people, and the monument stood in the collective-farm yard. Later the bust of this awakener of Ukrainian literature took a worthy place beside the school.

 

Horbachi. The monument to Lesia Ukrainka

The main architectural and spiritual landmark is considered to be the wooden Church of St Ignatius, standing on the central street by the river. The church is oriented with its altar to the east, and its main entrance is built on the south side. The shrine was first documented in 1515. On the site of the earlier one, the present church was built in 1712 (1734); together with its two-tier bell tower it holds the protected status of an architectural monument.

 

Horbachi. The Church of St Ignatius

Across the road from St Ignatius's church, in 1992 a symbolic mound was raised with a memorial cross to the Fighters for Freedom in Ukraine.

 

Horbachi. Memorial sign to the Fighters for Freedom in Ukraine

You can learn about the history of the village and the features of Horbachi's spiritual heritage in the People's Hall (Narodnyi Dim), which was built before the Second World War. The reading room in Horbachi was founded in 1908 with subscriptions to the newspapers Svoboda and Khliborob. Along with its book collection, here you can look through an album of old photographs, paintings, and cuttings from newspapers and publications.

 

Horbachi. The People's Hall and library

My thanks to Mrs Lesia, the librarian of Horbachi village, for the information and hospitality.

Horbachi. Village buildings