What to See in Ukraine - Top Sights and Attractions

Landmark monastery and cave system. Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra or Kyivo-Pechers’ka Lavra, also known as the Kiev Monastery of the Caves, is a historic Eastern Orthodox Christian monastery which gave its name to one of the city districts where it is located in Kyiv.

Since its foundation as the cave monastery in 1051, the Lavra has been a preeminent center of Eastern Orthodox Christianity in Eastern Europe. Together with the Saint Sophia Cathedral, it is inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The monastery complex is considered a separate national historic-cultural preserve (sanctuary), the national status to which was granted on 13 March 1996. The Lavra is not only located in another part of the city, but is part of a different national sanctuary than Saint Sophia Cathedral. While being a cultural attraction, the monastery is once again active, with over 100 monks in residence. It was named one of the Seven Wonders of Ukraine on 21 August 2007.

Currently, the jurisdiction over the site is divided between the state museum, National Kyiv-Pechersk Historic-Cultural Preserve, and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) as the site of the chief monastery of that Church and the residence of its leader, Onufrius, Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine.^[1]

Eastern Orthodox Cathedral. Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, Ukraine, is an architectural monument of Kyivan Rus. The former cathedral is one of the city's best known landmarks and the first heritage site in Ukraine to be inscribed on the World Heritage List along with the Kyiv Cave Monastery complex. Aside from its main building, the cathedral includes an ensemble of supporting structures such as a bell tower and the House of Metropolitan. In 2011 the historic site was reassigned from the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Regional Development of Ukraine to the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine. One of the reasons for the move was that both Saint Sophia Cathedral and Kyiv Pechersk Lavra are recognized by the UNESCO World Heritage Program as one complex, while in Ukraine the two were governed by different government entities. It is currently a museum.

In Ukrainian the cathedral is known as Sobor Sviatoi Sofii (Собор Святої Софії) or Sofiiskyi sobor (Софійський собор).

The complex of the cathedral is the main component and museum of the National Sanctuary "Sophia of Kyiv" which is the state institution responsible for the preservation of the cathedral complex as well as four other historic landmarks across the nation.^[2]

Mystetskyi Arsenal National Art and Culture Museum Complex, also known as Mystetskyi Arsenal — is Ukraine's flagship public cultural institution, a museum and art exhibition complex located at 10–12 Lavrska Street, in Kyiv, Ukraine.

The total exhibition area of the historic venue is 60,000 m2, one of the largest in Europe. The institution's stated mission is to modernize Ukrainian society through raising awareness of social issues, fostering communication with the international community, and introducing outstanding local and international artists to the world.

The complex was visited by 173,550 visitors in 2018. It hosted 6 exhibitions, 2 festivals, 299 guided tours, 52 educational projects and 13 large-scale theatrical productions the same year. The venue also hosts Ukraine's biggest annual book fair, attended by 50,000 visitors.

The complex is legally under the control of the State Management of Affairs.^[3]

Building in Lviv, Ukraine. The Potocki Palace in Lviv was built in the 1880s as an urban seat of Alfred Józef Potocki, former Minister-President of Austria. No cost was spared to make it the grandest nobleman's residence in the city. It is located on the Kopernyka street, 15.

At the start of the 20th century, the parkland gave way to a network of apartment buildings. It was confiscated by the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1940. The palace itself was adapted for holding wedding ceremonies in 1972 and subsequently underwent restoration.

In the 2000s, the President of Ukraine appropriated the palace as one of his residences. Some of its architectural motifs were borrowed by the next-door exhibition hall (inaugurated in 1996).

The matches of the Women's World Chess Championship 2016 were played in the palace.

Today, it hosts a branch of the Lviv National Art Gallery.^[5]

Street in Odesa, Ukraine. Vulytsia Derybasivska or ulitsa Deribasovskaya or De Ribas Street is a pedestrian walkway in the heart of Odessa, Ukraine. The street is named after José de Ribas, who was the builder of Odessa, the head of military and civil administration and had a house on this street.

Next to the street is Odessa's first park, which was built shortly after the foundation of the city in 1803 by the De Ribas brothers, Joseph and Felix (Josep and Fèlix). This park has a fountain, bandstand, and several monuments, including a sculpture of a lion and lioness with her cubs, a chair commemorating the famous book "The Twelve Chairs", two monuments to Leonid Utyosov (a sculpture and also a phone which plays his music), and a monument to Sergey Utochkin, a famous pilot.^[8]

Dytynets Park is the most ancient area of Chernihiv is Dytynets. It is a hill on the bank of the Desna River, where a defense complex is situated. Walking along the alleys of the park, you can feel the spirit of ancient times, marvel at the panorama of the Boldyna Hora, see the numerous churches and cathedrals, and observe the whole city. At the viewing point, there are 12 cast-iron bastion cannons from the seventeenth century, which are the calling card of the city. By the way, Dytynets is a perfect spot to have a lunch in one of the traditional cuisine restaurants.

Across the street from Dytynets Park, you will find Catherine's Church from the beginning of the 18th century. This is one of the best examples of the Ukrainian Baroque style with onion-shaped golden domes.

Right in the center of the city, there is Pyatnytska Church from the 12th/13th century. The style is a bit raw, with red bricks, but it's impressive nevertheless.^[13]

Majestic cathedral built in 1901. The Annunciation Cathedral is the main Orthodox church of Kharkiv, Ukraine. The pentacupolar Neo-Byzantine structure with a distinctive 80-meter-tall bell tower was completed on 2 October 1888, from designs by a local architect, Mikhail Lovtsov. The church was consecrated in 1901, and the earlier Annunciation church was then pulled down.

The candy-striped cathedral supplanted the older Assumption Cathedral as the main church of Kharkiv and was one of the largest and tallest churches of the Russian Empire. The icon screen used to be of Carrara marble. The church was frescoed in a style derived from St Vladimir's Cathedral in Kyiv. On 3 July 1914 the church became recognized as the city's cathedral.

The cathedral was closed to worshippers in 1930, but it was reopened during the German occupation in 1943. The church was then in the hands of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church and harbored a school, though claims abound that it was later used as a warehouse.

Since 1946 the cathedral has been the seat of the Kharkiv and Bohodukhiv eparchy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, while the Intercession Convent has served as the bishop's residence. The Ecumenical Patriarch Athanasius III and several saintly bishops are buried in the cathedral.^[14]

Well-preserved medieval castle and towers. Kamianets-Podilskyi Castle is a former Ruthenian-Lithuanian castle and a later three-part Polish fortress located in the historic city of Kamianets-Podilskyi, Ukraine, in the historic region of Podolia in the western part of the country. Its name is attributed to the root word kamin', from the Slavic word for 'stone'.

Historical accounts date Kamianets-Podilskyi Castle to the early 14th century, although recent archaeological evidence has proved human existence in the area back to the 12th or 13th century. Initially built to protect the bridge connecting the city with the mainland, the castle sits on top of a peninsula carved out by the winding Smotrych River, forming a natural defense system for Kamianets-Podilskyi's historic Old Town neighborhood.

Its location on a strategic transport crossroad in Podolia made the castle a prime target for foreign invaders, who rebuilt the castle to suit their own needs, adding to its multicultural architectural diversity. Specifically, the complex consists of the Old Town fortified by King Casimir IV, the Old Castle rebuilt by Kings Sigismund I and Stephen Báthory, and the New Castle founded by Kings Sigismund III and Władysław IV. However, in spite of the many architectural and engineering changes to the original structure, the castle still forms a coherent architectural design, being one of the few medieval constructions in modern-day Ukraine that is relatively well preserved.

Along with the Old Town neighborhood, the castle is listed as part of the National Historical-Architectural Sanctuary "Kam'ianets" and the National Environmental Park "Podilski Tovtry". The complex is a candidate UNESCO World Heritage Site, nominated in 1989 by the Ukrainian representatives, and also one of the Seven Wonders of Ukraine. Today, Kamianets-Podilskyi Castle is the most recognized landmark of the city, serving as an important regional and national tourist attraction.^[17]

Historical place in Sevastopol. Chersonesus, in medieval Greek contracted to Cherson is an ancient Greek colony founded approximately 2,500 years ago in the southwestern part of the Crimean Peninsula. Settlers from Heraclea Pontica in Bithynia established the colony in the 6th century BC.

The ancient city is located on the shore of the Black Sea on the outskirts of present-day Sevastopol on the Crimean Peninsula, where it is referred to as Khersones. The site is part of the National Preserve of Tauric Chersonesos. The name Chersonesos in Greek means "peninsula" and aptly describes the site on which the colony was established. It should not be confused with the Tauric Chersonese, a name often applied to the whole of the southern Crimea.

During much of the classical period Chersonesus operated as a democracy ruled by a group of elected Archons and a council called the Demiurgoi. As time passed, the government grew more oligarchic, with power concentrated in the hands of the archons. A form of oath sworn by all the citizens from the 3rd century BC onwards has survived to the present day. In 2013 UNESCO listed Chersonesus as a World Heritage Site.^[19]

The National Pirogov Garden Museum is a museum in Vinnitsa dedicated to the life and work of Mykola Ivanovich Pirogov, an outstanding Ukrainian and Russian scientist, surgeon, and teacher. Pirogov's garden is a monument to the history of national importance and environmental protection object of nationwide significance, as well as the educational base of the Vinnytsia National Medical University.

Museum Complex is located on the east-west outskirts of the city of Vinnitsa, within the narrow portion of the massif of Pirogov (formerly the village of Vyshnya), its composition includes: a house in which he lived M.I.. Pirogov, and which houses a display of his life and work, the museum pharmacy with the rooms of the reception and operating rooms, necropolis church, which houses the sarcophagus with the embalmed body of the scientist, memorial park, which preserved the trees planted by MI Pirogov

Museum in Feodosia. The Aivazovsky National Art Gallery is a national art museum in Feodosia, Crimea. The first exhibition was privately organised by Ivan Aivazovsky's in his house in 1845. The basis collection included his 49 paintings. In 1880 an additional exhibition hall was attached to the house. The gallery became the third museum in the Russian Empire, after the Hermitage Museum and the Tretyakov Gallery. After Aivazovsky's death in 1900, the ownership of the gallery was transferred to the city according to his testament.

Towards the end of 1920, the house was occupied by the Feodosia department of Cheka. Several paintings were damaged at that time.

Since 1922, the gallery became a state museum in the USSR. The collection consists of about 12 thousand nautical theme works, including the world's largest collection of works by Ivan Aivazovsky himself (417 paintings). The gallery exposition introduces the works of Aivazovsky, his family history, and the history of the gallery. A separate building (artist's sister house) presents mythological and biblical paintings, foreign marine paintings of the 18th-19th centuries, and the Cimmerian school of painting including Maximilian Voloshin, Lev Lagorio, Konstantin Bogaevsky, Mikhail Lattry, Adolf Faessler, and Arkhip Kuindzhi.

In 1930 a monument to Aivazovsky, by Ilya Ginzburg, with the inscription "Feodosia to Aivazovsky" was erected in front of the main building.^[29]

Castle in Ukraine. Nevytske Castle is a semi-ruined castle in Zakarpattia Oblast, Ukraine.

It is located 12 kilometres north of Uzhhorod near villages Nevytske and Kamianytsia, Uzhhorod Raion along the H13. The castle is located in woods on the hill of volcanic origin with relative elevation of 122 metres and few hundred meters to the east of the road and river that flows along. Such location of the castle was giving a good opportunity to control Transcarpathian route over the Uzhok pass.

The castle was first mentioned in 1274 belonging to the King of Hungary Laszlo IV as a dungeon or a keep. Completely rebuilt in the early 15th century, it, towering over the Uzh River, was the mighty citadel of the Drugeth family which supervised its continuous modernisation over the centuries. The keep, rebuilt in its present form in the early 16th century, passed from hand to hand during the internecine strife that convulsed Hungary in the early 17th century.

In 1644, Prince of Transylvania George II Rákóczi ruined the castle, leaving it much as it stands today. A decline in defensive importance of the site as well as the remote and inaccessible situation of the castle have preserved it from complete demolition.

Near the site is located Uzhhorod Military Training Center.^[34]

Cathedral in Kamianets-Podilskyi, Ukraine. The Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral also called Kamianets-Podilskyi Cathedral is the name given to a religious building affiliated with the Catholic Church which is in the cathedral square in city of Kamianets-Podilskyi in Khmelnytskyi Oblast in the west part of the European country of Ukraine.

The temple follows the Roman or Latin rite and is home to the Diocese of Kamyanets-Podilsky (Dioecesis Camenecensis Latinorum, Єпархія Кам'янець-Подільський) originally created in 1373 and restored in 1918.

The church was built in the time of Bishop Jakub Buczacki in the 16th century in Renaissance style (the construction of the stone church Bishop Paul attributed Bojańczyce) in the years 1646-1648 was rebuilt in Baroque style. In 1672, during the Turkish occupation of these lands, the temple was transformed temporarily into a mosque and a minaret was built.

He returned a cathedral in 1699. In the middle of the eighteenth century, the cathedral was rebuilt in late Baroque style. The April 1922 The Soviets plundered the treasures of the cathedral. On 14 May 1936 the communist authorities closed the temple and transformed it into a museum.

It was temporarily open since the summer of 1941 to 4 June 1945. In the years 1946-1990 the church housed a "museum of atheism". On 13 June 1990 was returned to the Catholic faithful, and on June 29 of that same year the first Mass was celebrated.^[36]

Cathedral in Mukacheve, Ukraine. The St. Martin of Tours Cathedral also called Mukacheve Cathedral is the name given to a religious building affiliated with the Catholic Church which is located in the city of Mukacheve in the west part of European country of Ukraine.

The church is decorated with a light brown tone. Its main and highest tower is adorned with a clock, and the entrance gate was decorated with a vaulted arch and columns. It has an adjoining chapel dedicated to St. Joseph is located near the cathedral dates back to the fourteenth century. The church was built between 1904 and 1905 in an eclectic style. In Soviet times, it was closed by the authorities of the local communist party. In 1990 it was returned to the Catholic faithful. Since 2002, it is the cathedral of the new Diocese of Mukachevo of the Latins (Dioecesis Munkacsiensis Latinorum; Єпархія Мукачево) that was created by bull Cum Transcarpatiae of Pope John Paul II.^[37]

Medieval fortress with 3 towers. Lutsk Castle, also locally known as Lubart's Castle or Upper Castle, began its life in the mid-14th century as the fortified seat of Gediminas' son Liubartas, the last ruler of united Galicia-Volhynia. It is the most prominent landmark of Lutsk, Ukraine and as such appears on the 200 hryvnia bill.

The Kievan town of Luchesk had a wooden wall as early as 1075, when Boleslaus the Bold laid siege to it for six months. Yury Dolgoruky failed to take Lutsk after a six-weeks siege in 1149. In 1255, the walls of Lutsk were stormed by Khan Jochi's grandson Kuremsa.

The current castle, towering over the Styr River, was built mostly in the 1340s, although some parts of the earlier walls were used. It repelled sieges by numerous potentates, including Casimir the Great (1349), Jogaila (1431), and Sigismund Kęstutaitis (1436). It was there that the Lutsk Conference of 1429 took place, attended by Emperor Sigismund, Vasily II of Moscow, Jogaila, Vytautas the Great, and the voivode of Wallachia.

During the long reign of Vytautas, Lutsk Castle was further fortified to guard against artillery and gunfire. The principal entrance, now bricked in, was from the west and adjoined a bridge over outer moat. Three main towers, now named "Lubart", "Švitrigaila" (both after Lithuanian princes) and the "Bishop", were built up in the course of the 16th and 17th centuries.

The walls of the castle formerly enclosed St. John's Cathedral, a palace of the grand dukes, and an episcopal palace. Of these buildings, only the Neoclassical palace of the bishops still stands.

On 2 July 1941 1,160 Jews were murdered within the walls of the castle. There is no monument or marker for this tragedy in the castle.^[39]

Museum in Uzhhorod, Ukraine. Museum of Folk Architecture and Life is an open-air museum located in Uzhhorod, Ukraine. It features over 30 traditional structures collected from villages across Zakarpattia Oblast, the Ukrainian province of which Uzhgorod is the capital. According to Michael Benanav of The New York Times, "the museum's centerpiece is 16th-century St. Michael's Church, with a roof and onion-domed steeple covered in wooden shingles." Uzhgorod Castle, located nearby, is an imposing fortress that housed the regents of the Habsburgs.

In English, the museum may also be known as Subcarpathian Rus' Museum of Folk Architecture and Customs, Transcarpathian Museum of Folk Architecture and Customs, Uzhhorod Museum of Folk Architecture and Folkways or Uzhhorod Museum of Folk Architecture and Rural Life.^[40]

Museum in Zhytomyr, Ukraine. The Serhiy Pavlovych Korolyov Museum of Cosmonautics is a technology museum in Zhytomyr, Ukraine dedicated to Serhiy Korolyov. Korolyov led the Sputnik project and was Chief engineer for the Soviet Union's rocket and space program from the late 1950s until his death in 1966. He was born in Zhytomyr, then part of the Russian Empire.

In 1970, the house in which Korolyov was born was dedicated as a memorial to him, a campus of the Zhytomyr Regional Museum. The museum achieved independent status in 1987, and the present museum building was constructed in 1991.

The museum houses around 11,000 exhibits related to rocket and space exploration, including the Soyuz 27 descent module, a small sample of lunar soil, full-size replicas of a complete Soyuz spacecraft, the Vostok 1 descent module, and the Lunokhod 2 lunar rover. From 2013, 2.5 million visitors have passed through the museum's doors.

Next to the exposition space, a rocket launches a geodetic version of the missile R-5 (8A62) (the rocket P5 was the first to carry a nuclear charge, and the last one to upgrade the A4 (Fau-2 missile) and the R-12 missile (8K63) (the first one was developed in the Dniepr) with an engine on high-speed components

There are exposition of an animal in space

Suspicious in space

There are models of devices:^[44]

Elegant castle with several museums. Uzhhorod Castle is an extensive citadel on a hill in Uzhhorod, Ukraine. It was built in a mixture of architectural styles and materials between the 13th and 18th centuries and figured heavily in the history of Hungary. The very name of Uzhhorod/Ungvár refers to the castle, translating as "the Uzh castle".

The earliest stone buildings on the site of the castle may be dated to the 13th century. Charles I of Hungary gave the castle grounds to his Italian supporters from the Drugeth family. They erected a rectangular defensive structure with rhomboid bastions that recalled the castles of South Italy.

The fortification, augmented in the 16th and 17th centuries, underwent numerous sieges (the last one by Francis II Rákóczi in 1703-04) but was never taken. In the 18th century, it was modernised under the supervision of Lemaire, a military engineer from France.

As the male line of the Drugeth family died out in 1691, Kristina Drugeth, heiress to the vast Drugeth dominions, married Count Miklós Bercsényi, making him the third richest man in Hungary. Bercsényi, remembered as a key figure in Rákóczi's War for Independence, resided in the fortified palace within the castle. It was there that he treated with the ambassadors of Peter the Great and Louis XIV concerning the establishment of an anti-Habsburg alliance. In 1711, Bercsényi fled Hungary and his estates were confiscated to the Austrian crown.

As the need for a military stronghold in the area declined with the extension of the Habsburg dominions further to the east, Ungvár Castle was given over to the Ruthenian Greek-Catholic Church which opened a school there. In 1728 and 1879, fire ravaged the castle grounds.^[45]

Co-cathedral in Zaporizhia, Ukraine. The Co-Cathedral of the Merciful Father also called Co-Cathedral of Zaporizhzhia is the name given to a religious building that is affiliated with the Catholic Church and is located in the city of Zaporizhzhia in the European country of Ukraine.

The cathedral follows the Roman or Latin rite and serves as the co-cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Kharkiv-Zaporizhzhia (Dioecesis Kharkiviensis-Zaporizhiensis, Харківсько-Запорізька дієцезія) which was created in 2002 by bull "Ad plenius prospiciendum" of Pope John Paul II. Its history dates back to April 5, 1998 when he was blessed plot of land for future building by Bishop Stanislaw Padewski. On October 7, 1999 the first stone in the presence of Bishop Leon Dubrawski, sent from Rome is placed. The church was designed by architects of Ukraine, partly following the model of the Basilica of St. Peter's in Rome. On August 7, 2004, the cathedral was consecrated by the bishops Stanisław Padewski, Leon Dubrawski, among others^[46]

Building in Lutsk, Ukraine. The building known as the Lutheran Church in Lutsk, Ukraine, is in fact now a Baptist church. It is located in "Old Lutsk", the historical and architectural part of the city.

The Church was built in 1907 for the city's Lutheran community. From the time it was built, it was the principal place of worship for the Germans living in Volyn. The church fell into decline as a result of the Second World War. From the 1950s to the 1980s, the church was used as an archive. Restoring the church in 1990s, the Baptist community of Lutsk became the new owner of the church after Church Restitution in Ukraine in the early 1990s. The spire of the Lutheran Church is the most significant feature of the church's architecture.^[48]