Lutsk, Ukraine: Memories

May 28

Hello Darlings, Lutsk is the city where I was born and raised. I haven't gone back to Ukraine in four years and it was a great experience to re-live my Ukraine memories.

Lutsk features many historic monuments that depict its past, one in particular is the Lutsk Castle. One of the few medieval castles that has been preserved (more than 80% of it is still in original form).

The Gate Tower

Lutsk is at least 930 years old (there are records from 930 years ago, but historians believe that it is much older) and is one of the oldest cities in the Europe. It's history counts back 600 years. Memories of events of Lithuanian-Polish epoch, political and private life of people are kept in the powerful Castle's walls and towers.

At first the Upper Castle had the style of Roman Gothic architecture, but after its rebuilding in XIV century it acquired Renaissance traits.

The main Gate Tower measures 27 meters in height and has been entered by famous people of the European history among many are: the Great Duke Vitovt ,Prince Yagaylo, the Danish King Eric, the Roman Emperor Sygismund, the Great Moscow Prince Vasiliy,Tatar Khans, the first printer Ivan Fedorov and the future Ukrainian Hetman Ivan Wygowskyy.

Gate Tower with views of The Roman-Catholic Church of St. Peter and Paul and of Lutheran Kirk.

Inside the castle walls one can visit the Museum of Bells, unique of its kind in Ukraine. The exposition presents about 50 bells of XVII-XX centuries from different countries: Ukraine, Russia, Poland, Austria and Germany.

This bell is more than 300 years old and I found my name MARTA, which means March in old Slavic Language.

The Museum of Bells is in Bishops Tower, which is 13.5 meters and requires a lengthy climb on the creepiest wooden stairs.

Marta Tryshak wearing J Brand jeans and Bloch flats

On the territory of the Bishop's yard where the Poviat Treasury was built in 1807 is now the Book Museum.

"The Book Museum"

It features ancient books from XVI-XIX centuries. This part was especially interesting since I've never been to a book museum.

Walking Through Old Lutsk

Walking through Old Lutsk (New Lutsk is featured in previous posts) ..... here are some of my favorite places and monuments.

The " Stalin Car"... (the car is not a monument, but was there by chance) yup, this is exactly the kind of a car that Stalin was driven around in. Behind the car is a Monument to the murdered Volynians. On June 23, 1941, three thousand of Volynians had been shot without any court processes.After the war an Orthodox monastery was placed here.

Roman-Catholic Church of St. Peter and Paul reflects the difficult historic epoch of XVI-XVII centuries. As the result of signing Lublin Union in 1569, the city was affiliated to Poland. This church was built in the early baroque style by the Italian architect Jacob Briano. The unique adornments of the church are decorated by wooden sculptures of St. Peter and Paul-the patrons of the church.

The Lutheran Kirk started on June 24, 1906 in place of the former monastery of Karmelits. During the 1927-1928 the German community built two buildings here, where the administration, the pastor's dwelling and the school for 250 pupils were situated. When WWII began the German colonist were evicted out of this land and the Soviet powers used the Kirk as a storage for Volyn' regional state archives. Since 1990 the Kirk has been used by Evangelists.

Finding a good guide book and then tour guides was hard but finding an ideal outfit was even harder. The outfit for the day had to be simple but classy. It had to be appropriate since I was going to visit many religious monuments. It also had to be comfortable... and breezy ( it was really hot that day). So, here's what I settled for....