Mykulychyn. The Museum of Hutsul Customary Symbolism

The only museum of the customary symbolism of the Hutsul region in Ukraine is located in Mykulychyn in the Ivano-Frankivsk region, almost in the centre of the village on the main street, and all travellers on the Yaremche-Bukovel route are sure to drive past this unique local-history, ethnographic, historical and spiritual landmark.

 

Mykulychyn, Ivano-Frankivsk region. The Museum of the Customary Symbolism of the Hutsul Region

Nadvirna. The Jewish Necropolis, Off the Tourist Route

Jewish cemeteries in Ukraine are little-studied and almost unknown objects of folk culture that form part of the history of our state. Abroad, such places are popular with tourists and are kept in good condition. A city of the dead is not suitable for a stroll, yet to get an idea of the cultural and historical heritage of the Jewish community in the town of Nadvirna in the Ivano-Frankivsk region, it is enough to visit the north-western sector of the Jewish cemetery.

 

Rakhiv. Burkut Park, a Monument of Landscape Art

City parks, recreation areas, green oases - these are gifts of nature and man-made landmarks in industrial centres that have accumulated the inconveniences of crowded traffic and engineering structures. One of the most picturesque parks of culture and leisure in Zakarpattia is located in Rakhiv, in the north-western part of the town.

 

Rakhiv. Zakarpattia region. Burkut Park

Mykulychyn. The Market: Range, Prices and Features

Mykulychyn is a low-mountain resort located in the Ivano-Frankivsk region in the picturesque valley of the mountain river Prut and its tributary the Prutets Chemyhivskyi. As is well known, travellers on their hikes along endless walking routes across the Carpathian ridges love to eat heartily and tastily, and they drag an enormous supply of food up into the mountains with them, anticipating the process of devouring the dishes on the conquered peaks. There is no need to buy groceries in the town supermarkets; it makes good sense to pick up local treats at the Mykulychyn market.

Stebnyi. A Non-Tourist Route in the Touristic Carpathians

How do we, residents of the eastern and central regions of Ukraine, picture the Hutsul region - a historical-ethnographic land located in the centre of Europe? A picturesque area in the forest tracts of the Ukrainian Carpathians, with fast rivers, flocks of sheep in the mountain valleys, with the music of waterfalls, trembitas and cymbals, with the taste of bryndza and banosh, with wooden houses on the slopes.

Yablunytsia. Mount Mykulinka, 997 m. A Walk to Recharge

To feel the energy of the Carpathians and replenish your reserves of positive emotions, you do not necessarily have to choose many-hour routes to ultra-distant peaks. You can see romantic mountain views not in a picture but with your own eyes even on thousand-metre ridges or thereabouts, such as Mount Mykulinka, 997 metres above sea level.

 

Mount Mykulinka. The village of Yablunytsia, Ivano-Frankivsk region

Yasinia. The Strukivska Church, a UNESCO Heritage Site

The Church of the Ascension of the Lord in Yasinia is one of the eight wooden churches in Ukraine featured on the UNESCO World Heritage lists, and one of two in the Zakarpattia region.

Yasinia, Zakarpattia region. The Strukivska Church

Yablunytsia. The Souvenir Market and Folk Craftsmen

Souvenir markets in Western Ukraine resemble ethnographic displays with a rich collection of works by local craftsmen. The spectacular selling-exhibitions of folk-art objects can be considered a national brand. Tourists include visits to colourful fairs in their routes and are sure to buy goods useful in daily life or simply curious little things that can be seen only in the Carpathian land. 

Yablunytsia, Ivano-Frankivsk region. The market on the pass

Sheep Farming. A Folk Craft of the Carpathians

"Oh sheep, my sheep, some black and some white,

Who will drive you along the holy Sunday?"

A merry band of curly-fleeced lambs jingles like a swirling stream down the mountain slopes. Devouring the young shoots of shrubs and the grassy cover, the brotherhood moves at a brisk pace from one pasture to another.

 

The Carpathians. Sheep

Yasinia. The Kirkut, a Monument of Jewish History

Jewish cemeteries in Ukraine hold historical, cultural and artistic value. According to Jewish traditions and rites, burials are not relocated and are regarded as inviolable. Jewish cemeteries have their own features and distinctions.

Yasinia. The Jewish cemetery (Kirkut)