Lviv. The Greenhouse in Stryiskyi Park

Winter gardens were very popular in the 18th–19th centuries, and in castles and villas wealthy owners would add halls with panoramic windows for growing exotic plants. In Lviv, besides the greenhouse complex in the botanical garden of the Ivan Franko University, another subtropical oasis has been created — it is located in Stryiskyi Park. Admission to the tropical flora exhibition is free.

 

Lviv's Fountains, Waterfalls and Water Jets

Lviv's fountains on holiday. After the equipment was dismantled, they were prepared for the winter season. The nozzles were washed with special high-pressure cleaners, the accumulated debris was cleared away, and everything was mothballed until spring. Fountains always adorn squares, green zones and the grounds of educational and health institutions, and they are among the most beautiful architectural masterpieces. I invite you on a photo and video walk through Lviv to structures that demonstrate the use of the law of universal gravitation, engineering logic and designer imagination. 

Train 130 Kremenchuk-Vorokhta. Nadvirna to Mykulychyn

Passenger train No. 130 Kremenchuk-Vorokhta links the centre and the west of Ukraine, an industrial and academic region with the Carpathian land. Residents of the Poltava and Kyiv regions travel by train to Lviv, to Ivano-Frankivsk and to a place of active recreation — the mountain resorts of the Nadvirna area.

 

Vovkiv. Market Square, the Wooden Church and Museum

Every town or village has its own experience of preserving historical sites and architectural monuments, which together make up Ukraine's cultural landscape and keep alive the memory of particular events or figures. The village of Vovkiv lies 20 km south of Lviv, in the floodplain of the Zubra River. It is first mentioned in 1398 and has a centuries-old history.

 

Fursove. The Kurgan — the Highest Point of the Mezhova Area

Kurgans — the burial places of the ancient Sarmatians and Scythians — are under threat of disappearing. As a rule, kurgans are interesting for the unusualness of their structures, and these steppe summits have cultural and historical value. There are ever fewer of these earthen giants among the agricultural fields.

 

The highest point of the Mezhova district

The Carpathians. A Hike to Yahidna and Lisniv Ridge

To the question "Why do people go to the mountains?", everyone who has climbed mountain ridges and slopes even once will answer: "To change your surroundings, to be alone with nature and your own thoughts, to have an active rest, to be inspired and recharged." So why deny yourself? In the Ukrainian Carpathians there are one-day routes that do not demand a great expenditure of strength and time, yet in feeling and perception are no worse than ascents of the record-breaking peaks.

Mount Lisniv in the Carpathians, Ivano-Frankivsk region

Komarno. The Lantskoronski Palace. What Do the Ruins Tell?

On the western outskirts of the town of Komarno in the Lviv region there is a place steeped in centuries of historical events, but the impression left by contemplating these man-made masterpieces is a depressing one.

Komarno, Lviv region. The Lantskoronski Palace before 1939

Vovkiv. The Ustyianovych Museum-Estate

The list of Ukraine's museums includes not only large exhibition centres and galleries with masterpieces of world importance, but also small memorial house-estates, no less interesting and appealing to seekers of something new and little known. What makes rural museums special is the wish to preserve history, cultural heritage and information about a locality's distinguished natives. Museum collections in small settlements can be considered folk collections: they are created by the whole community and survive on their own.

 

Vovkiv, Lviv region. The Ustyianovych Art and Memorial Museum-Estate

Mykolaiv. The Pysanka Chapel and Vysokyi Kamin

Every town or village has its own calling card, which stands out through the information it conveys about the place and is a part of its history. In Mykolaiv in the Lviv region, such a symbol appeared in 2002 — one that is known beyond the town and that tourists include in their routes. A chapel in the shape of a painted Easter egg stands on Mount Vysokyi Kamin and can be seen from several kilometres away.

 

Mykolaiv. Lviv region. The chapel in honour of the Nativity of Christ. The pysanka chapel

Watchmaker's Day. Wall, Street and Tower Clocks of Ukraine

Our life is scheduled to the minute, and we constantly check the time by electronic, wrist and street clocks, and when we notice a fault in the clockwork we turn to the masters of time. Not everyone knows that on 3 November watchmakers celebrate their professional holiday together with jewellers, since specialists of these magical crafts are called masters of golden work, or masters with golden hands.

 

In the watchmaker's workshop