Ivano-Frankivsk

Ivano-Frankivsk is the capital city of the Ivano-Frankivsk region in the western part of Ukraine. It is a relatively small city with a population of roughly 245 000 people. Ivano-Frankivsk started life as a fortress which was built to protect the region from Tatar invasions.

Ivano-Frankivsk is a beautiful city where the harmony the old times and the modern times, the variety of epochs and stiles are unified. In the city there are about 500 architectural monuments.

The major sights are: the Armenian Church (18 century) and the Cathedral of St. Resurrection (18 century) built in baroque style; the Jesuitical college where the famous polish poet Frantishek Karpinski studied in 1750th; the Castle of Pototski (12-13th centuries); Jesuitical (18 century) and Parish Roman Catholic Church (17 century); the Church of Virgin Mary (17 century) which now is the museum of arts with 10 thousands of artworks and also the music-dramatic theatre.

Ivano-Frankivsk is one of the few Ukrainian cities where the past remained in almost unchangeable view, in the center of which is the 49.5 m height town hall. Now it is a museum. There is a small but marvelous park not far from the town hall. A pedestrian street nearby leads to a small square with a beautiful music fountain.

The cathedral with the graves of Pototski (1700’s) is the second ancient building in the city after the town hall. Now it is a museum where icon artworks, paints and baroque sculptures of the national region can be seen. The brewery, a rare sample of the Ukrainian industrial architecture of the second half of the 18th century, is the oldest in Ukraine among the similar enterprises.