Top 10 Tourist Atractions
-
1.Lviv
Lviv, one of the most beautiful cities in the world, was founded in the mid XIII century as the capital of a powerful Eastern European state – the Principality of Galicia-Volhynia. Thanks to its unique geographic location at the intersection of main trade routes between the West and the East, during XV–XVII centuries Lviv becomes a leading trade center of Eastern Europe and the largest city in the territory of present-day Ukraine in which people representing all nationalities of the Old World live together and form their communities. Being part of European cultural medium for over half a millennium, Lviv transformed into a true architectural gem and a centre of book publishing, artisanship and arts.
In the XVIII–XX centuries Lviv (then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire) becomes known as a city of technical innovations: in particular, the first university in Ukraine, the Jesuit Academy was founded here, the first periodical newspaper in Ukraine, weekly Gаzette de Leopol was published here, the first Ukrainian political organization, the Supreme Rus Council was founded in Lviv, and pharmacists Johann Zeg and Ignacio Lukasewicz who worked in Lviv’s Under the Golden Star pharmacy have invented the world’s first kerosene (oil) lamp, and many other things.
Today, Lviv is the only city in Ukraine which has preserved medieval planning layout of its central part; the city has over 2,000 architectural landmarks which represent all architectural styles and many different peoples and which can tell the history of foundation and development of the city and the country.
The Ensemble of the Historic Center of Lviv is inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage Site, which became an international recognition of Lviv’s uniqueness.
Walking around Lviv, one can’t but fall in love with the unique and majestic beauty of the city. Everybody, regardless of where he came from, will always find something appealing to him and will surely want to come back to Lviv again and again.
Lviv
-
2.Kamianets-Podilskyi
Kamianets-Podilskyi is a city that preserved the spirit of the Middle Ages. Here, you can visit one of the largest fortification complexes in Europe, the fortress which became one of the most important landmarks in world history of fortification architecture. According to old chronicles, the stone fortress was built by Lithuanian princes Koriatovych who ruled Podolia in the 1360’s–1390’s.
The 121-ha Old Town functions as a unique complex separated from the rest of the city by deep Smotrych River canyon.
The Old Town architecture features many examples of culture of different peoples (Ukrainians, Poles, Armenians, Turks, and Russians) and religions (Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, Jewish, and Muslim): XVII century Turkish minaret; XVII century Turkish and Armenian bastions; XIV century St. Nicholas (Armenian) Church; XVIII century wooden Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross; XV–XVIII century Dominican and Franciscan monasteries.
Thanks to the unique combination of town planning, architectural, and historical heritage of the Old Town with the landscape of the Smotrych River canyon the Cultural Canyon Landscape was nominated as candidate for the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Kamianets-Podilskyi
-
3.National Dendrological Park ‘Sofiyivka’
The National Dendrological Park ‘Sofiyivka’ of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine located in Uman, Cherkasy Oblast is one of the most outstanding examples of world landscape garden design of the late XVIII–first half of the XIX century.
The Sofiyivsky Park was founded in 1796 by rich Polish magnate Count Stanislaw Potocki and named after his beautiful Greek wife Sofia, and was presented to her on her angel’s day in May 1802.
The idea of creating a romantic-style park with elements of Greek and Roman mythology belonged to Sofia herself. Wonderful landscape, exotic plants, antique sculptures, lakes, cascades, fountains, stone grottos – all this opens before the eyes of visitors to the park. For over 200 years this masterpiece of garden and park art impresses the visitors with its sunning beauty. Tourist season in Uman lasts around the year, and the park is crowded with visitors both in summer and in winter.
National Dendrological Park ‘Sofiyivka’
-
4.Pereiaslav National Sanctuary
The National Historical and Ethnographic Sanctuary ‘Pereiaslav’ is one of the largest sanctuaries in Ukraine. It’s comprised of 371 landmarks of Ukrainian history and architecture and 26 thematic museums featuring 166,000 exhibits.
Among them are collections of world importance: 11 church artifacts, 16 mills, collections of ancient stone sculptures and burial sarcophagi of Copper and Bronze Ages (69 pieces), various materials from settlements of Trypillian culture, Scythian times, and Cherniakhivska culture, about 1400 XVIII–XX century icons, collection of old printed publications, collection of clothing, military equipment, and weapons from the Cossack period, ethnographic collections.
Total area of the sanctuary is 3050 hectares including 420,000 sq.m of exhibit area. The sanctuary covers Pereiaslav-Khmelnytskyi, its vicinities, and Pereiaslav-Khmelnytskyi Raion, with several protected zones designated around the area. These zones have numerous cultural landmarks from different eras which reflect more than one thousand year-history of the town and many thousand years of history of the land.
Pereiaslav National Sanctuary
-
5.Great Khortytsia Island National Sanctuary
A gem on the Dnipro, a Ukrainian wonder, the hub of Zaporizhian spirit, an island of Ukrainian spirituality – this is how people who love and preserve this truly unique picturesque place for future generations call Khortytsia.
Khortytsia is a unique natural oasis in the center of industrial giant Zaporizhia, the cradle of Ukrainian Cossack movement, location of the first Zaporizhian Sich; a treasury of historical and cultural landmarks.
Obviously, Khortytsia is first of all a unique natural and historical complex which attracts attention of tourists from all over Ukraine. Notwithstanding this, there is no other island on the Dnipro which could match Khortytsia in terms of size or beauty. The island’s nature is diverse. Here, you can find steep rocky shore, impassable gorges, and pine forest. But, wandering around picturesque places on Khortytsia you will not only enjoy unique scenery but also get a touch of history.
Every tract on this island is a legend, every rock is a heroic event, every water well is a story. In the late XV–early XVI century Khortytsia became the center of Zaporizhian Cossacks. There is a version that the first Zaporizhian Sich stood on Khortytsia Island.
Today, Khortytsia is located within the large industrial city of Zaporizhia. Khortytsia is a national sanctuary protected by the state. The island has modern museum devoted to the Cossack history. Recently, historical and cultural sanctuary ‘Zaporizhian Sich’ was built within the Great Khortytsia Island National Sanctuary under the auspices of President Viсtor Yushchenko, which reproduces the way of life of Ukrainian Cossacks.
Great Khortytsia Island National Sanctuary
-
6.Bakhchisaray (Crimean Tatar: Bağçasaray)
A narrow valley of the Çürük Suv River is winding among bright grey steeps of rapid rocks which in some places form giant quaint statues. Where the value somewhat widens stands the Hansaray (Khan’s Palace) built in the XVI–XVIII century, further up – a medieval Moslem madrasah (school), then there is a cave Eastern Orthodox Dormition Monastery (XVIII–XIX century), and on the very top – the capital of Crimean Karaites (adherents of Karaite Judaism) Çufut Qale (VI–XIX century). For five hundred years the three great world religions were coexisting here in quiet harmony as if dictated by the generous and friendly nature of this paradise on the earth.
Although Bakhchisaray was the capital of the Crimean Khanate only until 1783, even today the cityscape retains features of medieval Near East (narrow streets, ancient spring fountains, buildings with second stories overhanging the street, mosques). But the most outstanding architectural landmark of this land is undoubtedly the Khan’s Palace featuring the Golden Study (XVIII century), the Conference Hall (XVI– XVIII century), the Iron Doors, and the Fountain of Tears (1764, designed by Omer), true gems of this region.
Bakhchisaray (Crimean Tatar: Bağçasaray)
-
7.Yalta – a gem of the Southern Coast of Crimea
Yalta is the capital of the Southern Shore of Crimea and the most famous city in Crimea, a sea resort which in summer turns into one of the largest centers of cultural life.
Since the 1860’s when famous therapeutist Professor S. P. Botkin found the climate of the Southern Coast healing and recommended Russian Czar Alexander II to buy a mansion here, this picturesque region of Ukraine experiences rapid development.
The nature of the Southern Coast is probably unrivaled in the whole world. Resort villages are tightly surrounded by picturesque mountains and rocks. Combination of healing mountain and forest air with coastal sea air makes the main healing factor of local resorts. On the other hand, parks and palaces built for Russian aristocrats in the XIX century around Yalta: Livadia Palace, Vorontsov’s Palace, Massandra Palace, and many others attract tourists with their apt architectural solutions and landscape harmony. And the visiting card of the Southern Coast is surely the Swallow’s Nest, the Castle of Love sitting on top of cliff dangerously overhanging the sea and attracting with its beauty and ‘frivolousness’.
Yalta – a gem of the Southern Coast of Crimea
-
8.Chersonesos of Taurica
Chersonesos was founded by ancient Greek colonists on the southwestern coast of Crimea more than 2500 years ago, and existed for almost two thousand years, until the beginning of the XV century. Today, the ruins of Chersonesos is one of the most famous landmarks of Sevastopol, and its history makes part of history of the ancient Greece, the Roman Empire, and the Byzantine Empire. Chersonesos was an important cultural center on Crimean Peninsula; it also played special role in relations between the Byzantine Empire and the Kievan Rus and was a leading center of spreading Christianity in Eastern Slavic lands.
Chersonesos and its agricultural vicinity (khora) is rich with different landmarks (museum collections of the sanctuary feature over 200 thousand exhibits) which have survived here in their unique authentic state till present day and constitute heritage of the world civilization.
Chersonesos of Taurica
-
9.Odesa
Odesa is a city on the Black Sea coast of Ukraine and the country’s largest seaport.
In European terms Odesa is a young city. It was founded by Catherine II in 1794 when the Russian Empress had decided that the country needs a port on the Black Sea coast to expand Russia’s ties with Europe. Having had an advantageous geographic location, Odesa had quickly transformed from a small settlement into a trade, industrial, scientific, and cultural center of European significance.
The ensemble of Classicism-style buildings including the statue of Duc de Richelieu and the Potemkin Stairs (1826–1841), the Vorontsov’s Palace, the Potocki Palace, the Naryshkina Palace, the Old Exchange building, hospital, Odesa National Academic Opera and Ballet Theater which is one of the most beautiful architectural masterpieces in Europe, a festive and smiley atmosphere reigning in the city – all this leaves an unforgettable impression with the tourists visiting the city. And thanks to its moderate climate, countless sand beaches, and a warm sea Odesa has long and deservedly been called the ‘Southern Palmyra’.
Odesa
-
10.Carpathians
Carpathians is a mountain range famous for the fact that it still has ancient forests unique for Central Europe – pristine beech forests included to the UNESCO World Heritage List as a natural heritage site. Carpathian beech forests are a priceless genetic storage beech and other natural species coexisting with it and depending on beech-associated ecosystems. The mountains themselves are ‘soft’ summits without rocky peaks and polonynas (Alpine meadows). Many rivers of Ukraine’s Western Region have their sources here: Prut, Cheremosh, and Limnytsia considered one of the cleanest rivers in Europe.
But the Carpathians are famous all over Ukraine not only with the unique nature but also with the local people called Hutsuls and the area where they live – Hutsulshchyna (Hutsuls’ Land). It is a marvelous land with unique traditions reflected in their crafts (egg painting, pottery, carving), way of life (sheep breeding, unique cuisine), and customs (language, music, rites).
Carpathians
