Stare Selo. A Renaissance Castle and Its Residents

Even if you have already seen it, or on the contrary have never heard a thing about it, you will certainly slow down beside this grand castle as you drive along the highway through Stare Selo, one of the ancient settlements of the Lviv region. The road and the railway curve in an arc around the great defensive structure, and in the trains and cars the passengers, pressed to the windows, just manage to admire the surviving remains of the medieval fortress.

 

Stare Selo, Lviv region. The 17th-century castle

Halych. An Early-Mediaeval Castle in a Modern Reworking

The 14th-century Halych Castle — a mighty stronghold at the centre of the early-mediaeval Galician-Volhynian Principality, an architectural monument of national significance.

Halych. Castle Hill. The Starostyn Castle, 14th c.

The Sent-Miklosh Castle of Love. History and the Present Day

The mediaeval Sent-Miklosh Castle in Chynadiiovo is a monument of architecture of the 14th-15th centuries, a popular tourist site, and a venue for festivals and plein-airs. But the events of today were preceded by the centuries-long epic of the palace and its owners, and this chronicle is one of the most romantic and dramatic castle stories of Zakarpattia.

Sent-Miklosh Castle. The settlement of Chynadiiovo, Mukachevo district, Zakarpattia region

The Tarakaniv Fort. Stories, Legends and Riddles

The Tarakaniv Fort is one of the most mystical sites of Ukraine. It is not included in the routes of organised tourists, and you will not read about it in the magazine-catalogues for travellers. It is not like other fortresses and castles, but its history has preserved no fewer secrets and riddles than the popular places of tourist pilgrimage.

The Tarakaniv (Dubno) Fort. The barracks and the side casemates

The Chernihiv Dytynets. The chronicle cradle of Kyivan Rus

Getting to know Chernihiv should begin with the Dytynets — its cradle, which gave rise to the development of the capital city of the Chernihiv-Siverian principality.

Chernihiv. The Dytynets. The Transfiguration Cathedral. 1036.

Berdychiv. A Brief Historical Excursion

As you approach the railway station of Berdychiv, the lines of a song come to mind — one banned in Soviet times, by unknown authors, yet beloved of chanson performers: "And the train rode quietly on to Berdychiv". The crossing, in this county town, of railway trunk lines from Kyiv, Kharkiv, Rivne, Odesa, and Poland made Berdychiv famous in the musical genre.

Berdychiv. Railway station

Baturyn. The Unforgotten Tragic Pages of a Town and a State

Baturyn is a town in Chernihiv region, a former Cossack capital and the residence of the hetmans.

Baturyn. The palace of Count Kyrylo Rozumovsky, 1799-1803

What I Know About Kherson

Discovering Kherson region for myself and having been in Henichesk, on the Arabat Spit, on Biriuchyi Island and in the Oleshky Sands, I wanted to get acquainted with the capital of this wondrous land.

Kherson. The Holy Dormition Cathedral. 1798

Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi. The Akkerman Fortress

The Akkerman Fortress in Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi is the largest fortification structure in Eastern Europe and the oldest in Ukraine.

Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi. The Akkerman Fortress

The Kytaihorod Temple Complex

In the centre of Ukraine, in the Dnipropetrovsk region, in the village of Kytaihorod, three monuments of history and architecture of national significance from the middle of the 18th century have survived to our days unchanged, all at once.

Zolochiv Castle: Fortress, Residence, Torture, Museum

Zolochiv Castle together with Olesko and Pidhirtsi is part of the popular tourist route 'The Golden Horseshoe of the Lviv Region'.

Olesko Castle. Stronghold, Residence, Museum, Film Set

Olesko Castle is one of the oldest and most famous structures of its kind in Ukraine. It held great strategic importance, as it was built on the border between Poland and Lithuania, at a crossroads of routes during the period when Kyivan Rus was breaking up into appanage principalities. The first mention dates to 1327. Today it is an architectural and historical monument of the 14th — 18th centuries and a museum-reserve that is part of the "Golden Horseshoe of Lviv" tour.

If you have never been to Kremenets...

Kremenets is a town in the north of the Ternopil region, known since the 13th century. The uniqueness of this town is that however many times you come here, you will always find something new and interesting.