Religious-pilgrim tourism in the west of Ukraine: main centres and shrines

This study analyzes the formation factors and major centres and shrines of pilgrimage and religious tourism in the Western region of Ukraine. The article presents structure of the religious space of 8 regions of Western Ukraine in the context of major Christian denominations. According to the latest statistics in the West of Ukraine, among the Christian denominations we can see dominance of believers and communities of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate and the Roman Catholic Church.
The main pilgrimage centres that represent the Christian denominations of the region are characterized by attracting their faithful and at the same time serving as religious tourism centres for a wider range of people. These include, among others: Univ Lavra, Krekhiv and Hoshiv Monasteries, the Marian Spiritual Centre in Zarvanytsia (Greek-Catholic Church); Maniava Skete, St. George Monastery on the Cossack Graves (Orthodox Church of Ukraine); Pochayiv Lavra, Zymne and Mezhyrich Monasteries, Monasteries in Bukovyna and Transcarpathia (Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate). At the same time, the Roman Catholic Church is represented by sanctuaries: Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Lviv, churches in Stryi, Bilshivtsi, Chortkiv, Letychiv and other settlements. The annual number of visitors to these major centres is between 30 and 100 thousand people a year.
Regarding non-Christian religions, there are important shrines in the region for Hasidic pilgrims in Belz, Medzhybizh and other towns.
At the same time, a number of regional centres are important destinations. There are many temples in Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lutsk, Ternopil, which, given the presence of objects of religious worship and significant architectural appeal, perform both a pilgrimage and a religious-tourist function.
Religious shrines, which are primarily of natural origin, are often an important component of the pilgrimage-tourist movement in the West of Ukraine. These include the appearance of the Virgin Mary, including individual hills or springs, as well as ancient cave monasteries. Numerous pilgrimage and travel agencies actively promote visits of believers and tourists to them.
Development of religious and pilgrimage centres is related to the development of service infrastructure, service complexes and a network of different types of accommodation. It may be recommended to organize more educational and scholarly events of ecumenical nature and meetings of faithful of different denominations in the well-known religious centres of the region. 
Key words: pilgrimage, religious tourism, denominations, temple, shrine, pilgrimage centre, infrastructure.


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Yu. Zinko [9,28]. The most important shrines of the Lavra are as follows: miraculous Holy icon of the Theotokos of Pochaiv, the footprint of Mother of God on a stone, and the relics of St. Methodius, St. Job, and St. Amphilochius. Every year, on August 19, a pilgrimage from the village of Dovzhok near Kamyanets-Podilskyi is undertaken to Pochayiv. Other pilgrimages to the Lavra take place on all great Orthodox feasts. There is a hotel for pilgrims with the rooms of different price categories on the territory of the Lavra: rooms for 10 persons (provided only for groups), separate rooms with facilities in the corridor and separate rooms with all facilities. Pilgrims make use of a tour agency, refectory (with free and paid food), parking-lot and leftluggage service. N. B. Pilgrims from the UOC MP, the Russian Orthodox Church and some other foreign Orthodox Churches with close ties to the Moscow Patriarchate usually are warmly welcomed in the Lavra, but guests from other Ukrainian Churches, Catholics and Protestants may face here some difficulties. Holy Dormition Univ Lavra of the Studite Rule (village of Univ, Peremyshliany district, Lviv region, 16 th century, belongs to the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church). The Monastery was built in the 15 th century as a defence complex (of a square form, surrounded by stone walls, with four corner towers ( fig. 3); there was a high rampart and a deep moat up to the beginning of the 19 th century) [9]. Nowadays, the Monastery consists of an old stone and a new wooden churches, fortress walls with two towers, cells, the Metropolitan House and the Retreat House for 40 persons [24]. It is one of the largest pilgrimage centres in Western Ukraine: twice a year two-or three-day walking pilgrimages are made here from the St. Michael's Church in L'viv (before the third Sunday of May as a feast of the local miraculous icon of the Theotokos of Univmostly by young people, and at   [9]. The architectural complex of the Monastery is an ensemble of brick, stone and wooden buildings surrounded by high walls with towers and loopholes. The most important shrine is a miraculous icon of the Mother of God "Deliveress" (18 th century), which has a miraculous power of healing possession.
St Dnipro and Don regions, Wallachia, Greece and Crete were coming there [9,24]. After Basilians had returned to the Monastery in 1990, thousands of believers come there on Feast of Saint Nicholas in the second half of May. The sanctuaries of the Roman Catholic Church comprise a special group of pilgrimage places in the west of Ukraine [13,24].    [13]. It was founded in 1624 by the monks of the Order of Discalced Carmelites invited to the village by its owner. The Carmelites Monastery is built on a high hill. It was surrounded by brick walls together with the cathedral. The height of the walls reached 2 m in some places, and the width was about 1 m. Only the western building of cells has been preserved. In the 19 th century the Carmelites Monastery in Bilshivtsi was one of the largest in Ukraine as evidenced by the documents kept in its archive before World War I. According to the 1788 description, the archive had 701 volumes of different materials. The Monastery was known for its miraculous icon of the Mother of God of Bilshivtsi. At the end of the World War II, the Carmelites took it to Gdansk (Poland), where it is now kept in St. Catherine's Cathedral [9,13]. In 2002, the Monastery was given into custody of Franciscan monks from Poland.

Sanctuary of Gracious Mother of God and Divine
Sanctuary of Blessed Virgin Mary of the Holy Rosary (town of Chortkiv, Ternopil region). The Sanctuary in Chortkiv is not enough known among Roman Catholic shrines in Ukraine. The status of sanctuary was granted to St. Stanislaus' Cathedral not long agoin 2009, after solemn coronation of the replica of a miraculous icon of the Holy Mother ( fig. 7) [13]. The first cathedral that was dedicated to St. Stanislaus, martyr and bishop, was built together with the Dominican Monastery in 1619. The icon of the Holy Mother of St. Rosary originates from the 16th century and was previously kept in Ostrovnia near Vitebsk (now in Belarus). In 1663 King Jan Kazimir presented it to Dominicans in Chortkiv, this being evidenced by Latin inscription: "Jan Kazimir, the King of Poland, was in Chortkiv with a miracle-making icon from Ostrovnia" [13]. After the expulsion of Dominicans from Chortkiv (in 1946), the icon was moved to Warsaw, where it is kept now in the Dominican Cathedral of St. Hyacinth.
Sanctuary of the Holy Mother of Letychiv in town of Letychiv, Khmelnytskyy region. The Cathedral was returned to Roman Catholics on July 5, 1992 [13].  [33]. Pilgrims visit these places mostly during Jewish feasts. As a rule, such trips are organized by travel agencies or religious Jewish organizations. Touristic and pilgrimage streams to major religious centres have been insufficiently studied in Ukrainian research. The data from Internet sources and surveys show that Pochayiv Monastery (with more than 50,000 visitors), Krekhiv Monastery (more than 30,000 visitors) and Zarvanytsia Marian Spiritual Centre (more than 100,000 visitors) are the most often visited sacral centres in the region.
Lviv and other regional centres of Western Ukraine as destinations of religious tourism and pilgrimage. Citiesregional centres of Western Ukraine as well as some separate historical places are centres of religious tourism and pilgrimage.
Lviv (with its suburbstowns of Vynnyky, Briukhovychi and Rudne) is the most prominent religious centre of Western Ukraine ( fig. 10), and the second, after Kyiv, in the country. As of now, there are ca. 110 typical Christian church buildings here (and some other churches are in process of construction), dozens of monasteries and nuns' houses [8,15]. Lviv is a seat of the Administrative Centre of the Roman Catholic Church in Ukraine, and a place of episcopal seats of a local Greek-Catholic and three Orthodox eparchies, as well as of the Ukrainian eparchy of the Armenian Apostolic Church.
There are the Ukrainian Catholic University, the Greek-Catholic and Roman Catholic Seminaries and the Theological Academy of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine in the city and suburbs. Also, various Protestant denominations, as well as the Jehovah's Witnesses have their important religious institution and numerous communities here.
The richness of architecture and interiors, the numerous Christian shrines stored in the temples of the city, make them a must-see part of excursions in Lviv. In addition to three Roman Catholic Sanctuaries, already mentioned above, there are a lot of pilgrimage places in the city and its vicinity [8].
For Greek-Catholics the most important destination is the Archbishopric Cathedral of Sviatoho Yura (St. George's)a main church of the Lviv Archeparchy and former seat of leaders of that entire Church ( fig. 11).
The main local object of worship is a Terebovlia miraculous icon of the Most Holy Theotokos (17 th century). It was moved here, rescuing from Turkish attacks, in 1674 from the mentioned town in Podillia. The largest pilgrimages to the icon take place on October 14the feast of Intercession of the Theotokos.
A copy of the Shroud of Turin has been exhibited here since December 2005 (among all registered and blessed by Pope copies of the Shroud in the world, this one is the eighth, made specially for Ukraine).  Рис. 10. Релігійні об'єкти центральної частини Львова як паломницькі місця (джерело: Т. Гринчишин [8]) Legend to fig. 10 Object There are particles of relics of many Saints in the Church of All Saints of the Convent of Nuns of the Studite Rule. Otherwise, particles of relics of St. Panteleimon the Healer can be found in numerous Catholic and Orthodox churches in Lviv.
There are also numerous objects of worship in the Orthodox churches in Lviv, which now are under various jurisdictions.
In the Church of Dormition of The Most Holy Theotocos on the Ruska street which is one of the oldest in Lviv and now servs as the cathedral of the Lviv eparchy of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine ( fig. 12) Before World War II, Lviv has very significant Jewish community (ca 32 % of total its population). There were more than 100 synagogues and houses of worship here, mostly destroyed by Nazi during the war One of the most known Jewish symbols of the city was the "Golden Rose" synagogue (built in 1592-1596 and ruined in 1941).
Other citiescenters of Western-Ukrainian regions also have a rich sacral heritage and are important for pilgrims and tourists.
The most visited religious place of Ivano-Frankivsk (former Stanyslaviv or Stanislaw) is the Holy Resurrection Cathedral of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Churchthousands of pilgrims come here to worship relics of Peter the Apostle, Blessed Mother Teresa, blessed martyrs Omelian Kovch, and Simeon (Lukach) and Ivan (Sleziuk), bishops of Stanyslaviv [24]. Also popular is the Monastery of Christ the King with a replica of Stanislaw miraculous icon of the Affectionate Mother of God (its original is kept in Gdańsk from the end of 17 thbeginning of the 18 th centuries; since 2010, when the replica was given to the Monastery, it has become the object of pilgrimages) and the relics of great martyr St. Josaphat (Kuntsevych), the Archbishop of Polotsk [24]. Recently, the Greek-Catholic Parish of First-Called Apostles Saints Peter and Paul in Ivano-Frankivsk opened the "Pilgrim" hostel for 50 persons, with a canteen of 50 seats [30].
The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Ternopilthe main church of Ternopil-Zboriv Eparchy of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, a former Dominican Cathedral (was built in 1749-1779 in Baroque style), monument of sacral architectureis a place of constant pilgrimage. There are copies of four most famous in Ternopil region and Ukraine icons of the Blessed Virgin Maryof Zarvanytsia, Pochayiv, Ternopil and Terebovlia on the cathedral walls [24].
The most well-known religious centres in Volyn region are Lutsk and Volodymyr-Volynskyione of the oldest cities of Ukraine. Lutsk has St. Apostles Peter and Pauls Cathedral and a Jesuit Collegium -local architectural monuments located in the "Old Lutsk" Historical and Cultural Reserve. Today the Collegium is an educational institution, and the church is the main Cathedral of Lutsk Roman Catholic Diocese (Volyn and Rivne regions). Numerous pilgrims come there, and the underground complex is opened for tours. Lutsk has also the unique Museum of icons with an ancient miraculous icon of the Mother of God of Kholm (11 th century). An old synagoguea monument of sacral architecture of the 17 th centuryhas also been preserved in Lutsk [24].
The first record of Volodymyr-Volynskyi in chronicles dates back to 988. This town has been the place of many temples and shrines since the times of Kyivan Rus. In 2001, the "Old Volodymyr" Historical and Cultural Reserve was created in the central part of the town. It includes the Holy Assumption (Mstislav's) Cathedralthe only monument of ancient Rus architecture in Volyn, preserved almost without any changes; St. Vasyls Church (13-15 th centuries) with a foundation built in the form of an eight-petal flower (this Church has an original icon of Theotokos-Hodigitria of the 17 th century); St. Nicolas' Church (end of the 18 th century; was built as a Greek-Catholic Chapel of St. Josaphat (Kuntsevych), in 1800 it was given to the Orthodox Church); Cathedral of the Nativity (beginning of the 18 th century) and others [24]. The majority of temples of the Reserve belong to Orthodox believers (of Moscow Patriarchate) and Roman-Catholic communities.
Shrines as Pilgrimage Places in Western Ukraine. Numerous shrines are an important component of the pilgrimage-religious movement in Western Ukraine. Sacred sites (sacralreligious) landscapes are divided by the dominance of elements of living and inanimate nature, natural anthropogenic, the combination of natural elements and religious ceremonial structures, and the dominance of religious structures [10]. A special group is formed by the holy places related to the apparition of the Virgin Mary, miraculous icons, healing springs, and old cave monasteries.
God's Hill (Bozha Hora). Above-mentioned Pochayiv Lavra is adjacent to the less known but still much respected by the faithful God's Hill (366 m a. s. l.), located near the village of Velyki Berezhtsi, Kremenets district, Ternopil region. According to the researcher of Volyn Volodymyr Rozhko, the hill became revered because it has been a place of asceticism of numerous monks since the Princes' times of 9-10 th centuries. According to various folk legends, Virgin Mary appeared there and left an imprint of her foot. Regarding the Ukrainian name of the hill (Bozha Hora), there are three versions of its origin: on behalf of the Ants' Prince Bozh, described by Goth historian Jordan; on behalf of the Slavonic tribe Buzhany; from the miracle of the Virgin Mary's apparition [14]. The shrine was restored after Ukraine had gained its independence; the place where the Virgin appeared, the spring and the caves were properly decorated, and a new church was built. Pilgrims constantly go to Bozha Hora, but they reach their largest number on the feast of the Pentecost between Easter and Ascension.
Holy Hill (Sviata Hora) is still no well-known place, where the Mother of God appeared, located 60 km to the east from Lviv between the villages of Bilyi Kamin and Ushnia in Zolochiv district ( fig. 13). Here, on the top of the hill, three girls witnessed the apparition of the God's Mother on September 6, 1948. After the apparition of the Virgin, a small spring appeared on the mountain [27]. In the 1990s parishioners and the priest from the village of Ushnia restored a wooden chapel and spring, and since 1998 walking pilgrimages have begun from Lviv to Holy Hill. Nowadays, there have been erected two churches and the Monastery of the Placing of the Robe of Theotocos (the Orthodox Church of Ukraine) on the top of hill. Spring (Bath) of Holy Righteous Anna. Also not far from Pochayiv, in the village of Onyshkivtsi, Dubno district, Rivne region, there is the of Holy Righteous Anna's Skete and Spring. In the place of the apparition of St. Anna's icon, a chapel was built to keep the shrine, and since then water from the healing spring has started to flow [31]. According to legends, bathing in it heals many diseases and infertility.
Holy spring in the village of Pohonia. There is a well known healing spring in the Dormition of the Theotokos Basilian Monastery (the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church) in the village of Pohonia, Tysmenytsia district, Ivano-Frankivsk region, which possesses a status of the pilgrimage place together with Hoshiv Monastery (Dolyna district, Ivano-Frankivsk region) and Zarvanytsia (Terebovlia district, Ternopil region) [31].
Holy spring in "Pid Dzhublykom" ("Under Dzhublyk") tract. On August 27, 2002, in Irshava district, Zakarpattia region, in the "Under Dzhublyk" tract located between the villages of Vilkhivka and Nyzhnie Bolotne, the God's Mother appeared to two local girls near the spring [31]. The "Under Dzhublyk" tract has become a popular pilgrimage place during recent years and its general way of development is similar to that in Medjugorje in Bosnia and Hercegovina.
Bakota St. Michael's Cave Monastery. The oldest cave monastery of Podillia is located on the steep slope over the Dnister River, so called White Hill, not far from the former village of 2. Main religious and pilgrimage centres in the region are represented by lavras, monasteries, and outstanding sacral objects in large cities (Lviv, Ternopil, Lutsk) as well as by small churches with a status of a sanctuary (in Roman Catholic tradition) or old pilgrimage traditions (Hasid shrines). A special group of visited places is formed by the so-called holy places (shrines) related to the apparition of the Virgin Mary and old cave monasteries. The most visited centres of religious tourism are Pochayiv Lavra, Krekhiv and Univ Monasteries, Zymne Convent, Maniava Skete, Zarvanytsia Marian Spiritual Centre and Christian shrines in Lviv, Lutsk and Volodymyr-Volynskyi. Pilgrimage centres, Christian non-governmental organizations, travel agencies and educational institutions play an important role in the organization of trips to religious places. At the same time, the infrastructure of many centres is insufficiently developed and the collection of statistical data on visitors (pilgrims and tourist groups) is not well organized.
3. Development of religious and pilgrimage centres is related to the development of service infrastructure, service complexes and a network of different types of accommodation. It may be recommended to organize more educational and scholarly events of Ecumenical character and meetings of faithful of different denominations in the well-known religious centres of the region.
Further development of cultural and religious tourism has significant potential in the region. In particular, it is necessary to develop the regional "Route of Wooden Churches" with its further transformation into an international one, which will join the Polish "Route of Wooden Architecture." This planned itinerary can become very popular as many of the wooden churches are on the UNESCO List of Cultural Heritage.