ARCHITECTURAL TOURS

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ARCHITECTURAL TOURS

TOUR 033

"TOUR FOR LOVERS OF ARCHITECTURE AND ARCHITECTURE MONUMENTS"
WEST UKRAINE, CARPATHIAN MOUNTAINS AND ROMANIA

DAY 1 - Arrival in Kiev. Transfer to hotel. Accommodation. Rest. Dinner at the hotel restaurant. Overnight in hotel.

DAY 2 - Breakfast in hotel. Sightseeing city and the architecture monuments, visits to St.Sofia's and Mikhailovsky cathedrals, St. Andrew church, Golden Gate. Lunch at the local restaurant. Visit to Kievo-Pecherskaya Lavra. Transfer to the architecture museum in Pirogovo. Transfer to "Dzherelo" train. Accommodation.Welcome dinner at the train restaurant. Overnight transfer to Lvov.

COMMENT: I.St.Sophia's Cathedral. Constructed in 1017-31 in honour of prince Yaroslav the Wise's victory over the Pecheneg tribe. Was the main metropolitan church of Kiev Rus - Ukraine. Of great value are the decorative works of the 11th century: the Metropolitan's chair, choir loft. The interior of the cathedral is also embellished with fresco ornamentation, mosaic floors, marble decorations etc.

2. Mikhailovsky (St.Michael's) Cathedral, 1070-88. Destroyed several times. After its reconstruction in 1767-69 the cathedral acquired a Baroque appearance. Eleventh centery frescoes and paintings from the 18th-19th centuries have been preserved.

3. Golden Gate, 1017-24. The main triumphal entrance to ancient Kiev. Its construction is mentioned in the chronicle for the year 1037.

4. Kievo-Pecherskaya Lavra (Kiev Cave Monastery). A Ukrainian Orthodox monastery founded in 1051 by the monks Antoniy and Feodosiy. In the 11th century it became the centre for the expansion and consolidation of Christianity in Kiev Rus.

DAY 3 - Arrival to Lvov. Breakfast at the train restaurant. Sightseeing town with architecture monuments. Lunch at the local restaurant. Visit to the museum of architecture. Free time. Dinner at the train restaurant. Overnight transfer to Boochach

COMMENT: 1. Svyatoho Mikolaya (St. Nicholas') Church, 13 cent. The earliest example of monumental architecture in the city.

2. Svyatoho Onufriya (St. Onuphrius') Church, 16th-19th cent. The church dates to the princely era. It was restored in 1463; around 1530 prince K.Ostrozky provided funds to build a brick church, which became the nucleus of the present structure.

3. St.Paraskeva-Pyatnitsa Church. One of the most interesting architecture monuments of ancient Lviv first mentioned in documents dating to the 15th cent.

4. Benedictine Monastery Complex, 1597-1616. The complex includes a Roman Catholic church (1597-1616), monastery building (1611-67), Baroque style entry gate (18 cent.).

5. Preobrazhenskaya (Transfiguration) Church. A former Trinitarian Roman Catholic church, it was rebuilt in 1898 by the archtect S.Havryshkevych. It was the first church in Lvov to revert to the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church in 1990.

6. Virmensky (Armenian) Cathedral, 1363-70. Over the centuries the cathedral was restored and enlarged ceveral times. The oldest section of the church is the eastern wing (14th cent.).

7. Roman Catholic Cathedral, 1360-1479. Erected by the master builder Nychko. After restorations in 1760-78 Gothic elements were replaced by Baroque architectural features. Sculptures by M.Poleyovsky, F.OIendzky, I.Obrotsky and paintings by the artist S.Stroyinsky embellish the cathedral.

8. Ploscha Rynok (Market Square). The architectural ensemble occupies a special place in the civil architecture of Lvov. In the centre of the square (142 x 129 m) is the city hall.

9. Chorna Kamyanyitsa (Black Building), 1588-89. This structure is the finest example of residential architecture of the Renaissance period.

DAY 4 - Breakfast at the train restaurant. Arrival to Boochach. Sightseeing town with visit to the Monastery of Vasilians and the Pototskiy familly castle. Lunch at the train restaurant. Transfer to Chertkov. Sightseeing. Dinner at the train restaurant. Ovbernight transfer to Chernovtsy

COMMENT: 1. Castle, 14 th cent. Sections of the defensive walls have been preserved on a cliff overlooking the Strypa river. The castle was built in the Renaissance style and reflects Podilian defensive architecture of the 14th-16th cent. (Zamkova str.)

2. Church at the Monastyryok Landmark, 16th cent. One of the rarest monuments of Ukraine. This church, which served as a fortress, is an example of Podilian stone architecture of the 16th cent.

3. Chertkov Castle, 1610. Situated on a mountain overlooking the river. Conservation measures for the preservation of its ruins were undertaken in the early 20th cent. One of the few private defensive structures in Podiliya.

4. Voznesenska (Ascension) Church, 1738. The wood structure is an example of Podillian folk wood architecture.

5. Uspenska (Dormition) Church, 1635. A unique monument of Podillian folk wood architecture. Enlarged in the 19th cent.

6. A Carmelite monastery complex, 1635, a Roman Catholic church, 1731, city hall, old market, 19th cent.

DAY 5 - Breakfast at the train restaurant. Arrival to Chernovtsy. Sightseeing with visit to the University architecture complex. Lunch at the local restaurant. Continue sightseeing the town architecture monuments (old town, Sad Gora). Hotel "Cheremosh" accommodation. Dinner at the hotel restaurant. Overnight in hotel.

COMMENT: Chernovtsi, the 12th cent.. The complex history of the city is uniquely reflected in the city's old quare, with its buildings of various architectural styles:

Byzantine, Gothic, Baroque, and others.

1. The Residence of the Bukovynian Metropolitans, 1864-82. The architectural complex was built by the Czech architect Y.HIavka. It consists of three separate buildings linked by the same design: the main building and two side ones, which form a large inner courtyard. All the architectural details are characterized by perfection of forms and structural harmony.

2. Armenian Church, 1869-1875. Built by the architect Y.HIavka. Since 1922 the church, with its excellent acoustic hall, has been used for concerts of clasical and chamber music.

DAY 6 - Early morning breakfast at the hotel restaurant. Bus transfer to Paroobnoer. Crossing the border to Romania. Visits the monastery architecture complexes in Hadauti town, Ruta, Arbore and Dragamira. Dinner and overnight in the hotel "Bucovina" in Suchava town.

DAY 7 - Breakfast in the hotel "Bucovina". Continue sightseeing programme with visits to monastery complexes in Humor, Voronet, Moldovita, Sucevita. Lunch at the local restaurant in Sucevita. Return back to Ukraine, accommodation the "Dzherelo" train. Transfer to Kiev. Farewell dinner at the train restaurant.

COMMENT: 1. The Moldovita Hearth Monastery is situated in the Moldovita Hearth village in Cimpulung Moldovenese area. Near the place where the church is today, towards North, Alexandre the Good, built a church with the name of the Good News, he placed monks arround it and he endowed it with all the necessary for living. The monastery of Alexander the Good fell down because of the earth gliding at the beginning of the 16th cent. The design of the church is triforium, the same with all the churches built by Petru Pares. At Moldovita, as well as Humor Manastery, the Church has its own architetural characteristic of an open veranda. The lateral polygon shape

apses are adorned with long ornamental architecture designs. Another series of ornamental designs surrounds the Church. The buttresses are placed on the right and left sides of the apses, and a brittress foot at the altar apse. In 1537 the Church was painted in fresco, both internal and external, in Byzantine style, with new elements characteristic to the church painting school in Moldavia.

2. The Sucevita Monastery is situated in a village with the same name, in the valley of the river of Sucevita. The Monastery was built in the period of 1582-1595 on the money of leremia Movila, the ruling prince of Moldavia.

3. The Holy Monastery of Voronet. By the will of a Gracious God, through the prayers of St.Pious Daniil the Hermit and the zeal of the good and faithful Voievode (Prince) Stephen the Great, the Voronet Monastery was raised up, between the 26th of May and the 14th of September in the year 1488, with St.George the Martyr as its patron saint.

DAY 8 - Breakfast at the train restaurant. Arrival in Kiev. Transfer to airport. Departure home.

All the transfers, excurssions are by bus/by foot.
During the whole tour the group is being assisted by a specialist, member of the Ukraine Union of Architectures.
On the group's request the architecture objects for visit on the itinerary can be substituted.