Drohobych Astonishes. Lavish Villas, Palaces, Townhouses

Drohobych, the second-largest city in the Lviv region, increasingly attracts travellers. The Market Square and the ascent of the Town Hall clock tower, an excursion to the saltworks and the museums, and a look at the architecture of the wooden churches, one of which is entered in the UNESCO register of monuments, together with other sacred buildings, all form part of the one-day tourist routes. The streets of the homeland of Drohobych sausages and the capital of oil-rich Galicia are full of secrets and legends.

 Ivan Franko Street, 24. The I. Ya. Franko Pedagogical University

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

Tourism in Ukraine. Rest, Sport, History, Architecture

People have long been marked by curiosity and an interest in how their neighbours live. Ukraine's fortunate geopolitical position at the crossroads of trade routes fostered the development of tourism across our motherland as early as the 19th century. In our country travellers gain impressions no less vivid than abroad, but for less money. In every region you will be met with hospitality and always pointed in the right direction. We have preserved architectural monuments of various eras and styles, created all manner of national parks and arboretums, and Ukrainian cuisine is famed the world over for its uniqueness. The unchanging leaders among destinations on travellers' lists remain Kyiv, Lviv, Odesa.

Kyiv. St Sophia's Cathedral. 11th century

Pryluky. A Walk Around the Landmarks on the Town Squares

Pryluky is a district centre of the Chernihiv region whose main landmarks are concentrated on its squares, which flow into one another in a chain and make up the historic core of the town. If in other towns the tourist appeal lies in pedestrian streets, in Pryluky the pedestrian zone is formed by the restored squares on the site of the former citadel.

Chasiv Yar. The Shukhov Water Tower: Demolish or Save?

The year 2019 in the town of Chasiv Yar, Donetsk region, was marked by a fateful decision concerning a unique monument of engineering architecture — the water tower of V. H. Shukhov. After many years of neglect and oblivion, this avant-garde architectural masterpiece faced demolition, but thanks to the efforts of the public the tower was saved from being cut up for scrap metal.

Chasiv Yar. Donetsk region. The water tower of the engineer V. H. Shukhov

Pysmenna Railway Station and the Village of Pysmenne

The Pysmenna railway station is located in the village of Pysmenne, Vasylkivka district, Dnipropetrovsk region, which was founded with the opening of the station in 1884.

The Pysmenna railway station. Vasylkivka district, Dnipropetrovsk region

Hustynia. The Holy Trinity Monastery, a Treasury

"visit ... the half-ruined Hustynia monastery, on the other side of the Uday River, three versts from the town of Pryluky. I can assure you that you will not regret it. It is a true Abbey of Saint-Clair ...," — thus, as early as the 1840s, did Taras Shevchenko advise a visit to the holy cloister. In 1845 the classic of Ukrainian literature, as a member of the Archaeographic Commission, made sketches in the monastery courtyard, and later, in 1953, he began his novella "The Musician" with a description of this place of prayer.

Hustynia. Chernihiv region. The Holy Trinity Monastery. The Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul

Izium and Its Highlights

Izium is one of the oldest towns in Slobozhanshchyna and the third-largest in the Kharkiv region. The town's official date of birth is considered to be 1681, but the settlement arose much earlier. The town's coat of arms and flag depict bunches of grapes, and one version of the toponym's origin is linked to dried kishmish berries. But it is not vineyards, but expanses of pine forest, that frame Izium, the Oskil Reservoir and the blue ribbon of the Siverskyi Donets.

Izium. Kharkiv region. A view from Mount Kremenets

Sviatohirsk. A November Album. Routes and Landmarks

My excursion to the northernmost city of Donetsk region began at the railway station. Sviatohirsk station was opened in 1911; you can get here by train from Kyiv, Dnipro, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kharkiv, Bakhmut. Suburban trains run through the station from Izium, Kramatorsk, Fenolna, Lyman, Kharkiv.

Sviatohirsk. Donetsk region. Railway station

Kramatorsk. Street Art, or a Street of Murals

Since October 2019, huge pictures have adorned the walls of buildings in Kramatorsk, executed so masterfully that they are indistinguishable from photographs. Dull pre-war buildings on Marata Street and two buildings on Akademichna Street were chosen for the street art. The large-scale wall paintings were created by professional artists, true wizards, invited to Ukraine from various countries.