The Wooden Churches of Zakarpattia

Zakarpattia is called the land of wooden churches. In atheist times they were closed and fell into decline. Then they were ruthlessly used as warehouses and outbuildings. Many burned down. Some were attacked by seekers of treasure and valuables. In the Svaliava, Mukachevo, Vynohradiv, Tiachiv, Perechyn, Khust, Rakhiv, Velykyi Bereznyi, and Mizhhiria districts, unique examples of wooden folk architecture have survived. To acquaint people with the spiritual heritage of the Zakarpattia region, tourist routes have been drawn up with visits to the monuments of wooden sacral architecture.

Uzhhorod. The Museum of Folk Architecture and Life. The Church of the Holy Archangel Michael

The Church of the Intercession. The Village of Ploske

The Church of the Intercession of the Most Holy Mother of God is a working church on the grounds of the museum of folk architecture and life in Pyrohiv. In 1974 the shrine was brought to Kyiv from Zakarpattia to the newly created skansen, and the almost two-hundred-year-old church became an exhibit that drew both believers and tourists, who came to admire the flawless beauty of this masterpiece of wooden architecture and to touch the history of prayer and service.

Pyrohiv. Museum of Folk Architecture and Life. The Church of the Intercession of the Most Holy Mother of God. 1792

Pyrohiv. Homesteads and houses

The Museum of Folk Architecture and Life in Pyrohiv is the largest in Eastern Europe. This open-air museum occupies an area of over 300 hectares in a picturesque spot in the southern part of Kyiv.

Kyiv. Pyrohiv. The Museum of Folk Architecture and Life. The "Podillia" exposition

Pyrohiv. Wooden Churches of the Folk Architecture Museum

The wooden churches at Pyrohiv not only make up the museum's collection but are also functioning churches. They were built in various regions. When new churches appeared there, and it turned out that there was not always anyone to repair and preserve the old ones, they were moved to the largest museum in Ukraine.

Pyrohiv. The Museum of Folk Architecture and Life. The Church of the Intercession of the Holy Mother of God. 1792

Pyrohiv. Wooden windmills

Over the steppe, above the valleys, the wind played with the feather grass,

and it came upon an old, abandoned windmill.

And the wind called out to it:

"For nigh on half a century now

you have stood here alone, as if enchanted forever."

(A song by Bohdan Kyik)

The windmills at the open-air museum in Pyrohiv are its most recognisable exhibits and the most popular subjects for romantic photo shoots.

Kyiv. Museum of Folk Architecture and Life. Pyrohiv. Wooden windmills