Explore Ukraine: Radomyshl - Berdichev
Part I. Radomyshl
A wonderful weekend tour from Kyiv from the company "Krajina YuA", which is called "Castle Radomysl and churches of Berdichev".
We leave Kyiv along the Zhytomyr highway, which was laid on the site of the old Via Regia - the Road of Kings. The road connected eight European countries: Spain, France, Belgium, Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine.
Road of the Kings
And she went from Kyiv to Santiago de Campostella.
The lands of the Zhytomyr region are the lands of the Slavic Drevlyans. As a reminder of their roots, a wooden sculptural composition depicting the Drevlyansk gods was installed at the entrance to the city of Radomyshl.
Entrance to the city of Radomyshl
So much, it would seem, has been written about Radomysl Castle, and our impressions exceeded expectations.
Radomysl Castle
The historical and cultural complex "Castle Radomysl" is now a private museum complex. The name of the complex uses the old name of the city of Radomyshl, recorded in written sources, starting from the first half of the 16th century.
The lands rich in furs and timber could not but interest the church.
We are greeted by the lands of the Drevlyans
The area where the castle is located was called Papirnya (translated from Ukrainian as "paper factory").
Based on this, the researchers concluded that the Radomyshl paper factory, known from the chronicles, was previously located on this site, built by order of Archimandrite of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra Alexei Pletenetsky at the beginning of the 17th century. The village that grew up around the factory existed until the 60s of the twentieth century, after which it was attached to Radomysl. Now the park has a sculpture of Yelisey Pletenetsky. The monk is depicted sitting in a boat in the middle of a lake. With his head bowed, he reads a book, a candle burning in his hand.
Monk in a boat
The river symbolizes the fluidity of time, the boat is human life, the book is the knowledge and life experience of predecessors, the candle burning day and night is enlightenment and service to people.
The role of the paper mill grew under the Metropolitan of Kiev and Galicia Peter Mohyla (1597-1647), who was engaged in the reform of the Orthodox education system in the Commonwealth. This required a lot of new textbooks and, accordingly, more paper. The paper was made from flax, hemp and nettle (now the castle hosts a master class on manual papermaking every 30 minutes) and was delivered to the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra by water (from the canals around the castle, water flowed into the local river, and then to the Dnieper, where near Kyiv and stands the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra). A distinctive sign of Radomyshl paper are watermarks in the form of three domes with crosses.
From the day of its inception and until the uprising of Khmelnitsky, the paper mill in Radomyshl was actually a monopoly paper producer in Central Ukraine. Most of the church and secular books that existed in this region were printed in the Lavra printing house on Radomyshl paper. It was on the Radomyshl Papirna that the first book "Hours" was published in Kyiv.
Paper was produced with a margin: after the closure of the factory, the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra printed its books on this paper for another 100 years.
In the course of the research carried out during the reconstruction and restoration work, the defensive nature of the building, where the Radomyshl paper factory was located, was also established. In addition, it was found that the building was built on an underground granite rock, which goes deep into the earth for several meters. This prevented from undermining. Of great importance was the source of drinking water, which spouted directly from the rock inside the building, which made it possible for the defenders to withstand the siege for a long time. This source is still in the castle, it is located in the Concert Hall behind the piano.
Concert Hall
Now the castle has been well restored (there are photos in its exposition, which show in what deplorable condition it was acquired by the doctor of medicine, Ukrainian doctor Olga Bogomolets). They were ruins. And now it is a beautiful sightseeing object that attracts tourists.
The interiors of the 16th-19th centuries have been recreated. There is all the infrastructure necessary for a tourist: a restaurant, a cafe, a small but very nice park. . .
Park territory
. . . in which there are sculptures that are approximately 300 years old, and you can ride a boat along the canals of the park.
In the castle itself, there are 10 boutique hotel rooms (two of which are located in the tower). You can stay there for a few days.
Radomysl Castle
In our program, several hours were allocated for the castle.
Why do tourists go to this place? Not only to look at the restored building, but also to look at a large collection of domestic icons, which is located in the halls of the castle and has more than 5000 items.
Home icon is a kind of icon painting genre. Here are collected specimens from all over Ukraine, from its different regions. Some were painted according to the canons of the icon painting schools that were accepted at that time, and some are similar to the paintings of Maria Pryimachenko, which many consider to be Ukrainian primitivism.
But the energy in the museum is colossal!
For example, these icons were painted according to the canons of the Kiev school of icon painting (18th century):
Then it was customary to write halos in dark brown colors.
And here are the icons of the Chernigov school of icon painting:
Here the halos are triangular in shape.
And here are the icons of the Transcarpathian school:
Transcarpathian icon made on glass
And some are written on the glass on the back:
Transcarpathian icon made on glass
There are also folding icons in the form of a triptych:
Folding icons
The Hutsuls took such people with them, leaving for a long time to graze sheep on the meadows. Icons could be easily transported and not damaged.
There are primer icons:
Primer icon
On them, as in textbooks, the Path of the Rosary is drawn. This is how children were taught.
There are icons of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions:
There, people tried to decorate them as much as possible with what they could (beads, pieces of fabric and silver).
But this icon of the Mother of God has been in the family of midwives for seven generations:
There are many small cuts on it. This is the umbilical cord of a born baby cut on the icon. And if there was a trace of a knife on the icon, then this promised the child well-being and health. Such was the belief.
There is also a hall of the Mother of God in the museum:
Virgin's Hall
There are various icons collected there. Several copies of the Mother of God of Czestochowa (Polish: Matka Boska Cz? stochowska), a miraculous icon painted, according to legend, by Luke the Evangelist, which is equally revered by both Catholics and Orthodox.
In the year 326, when the holy Empress Helen went to Jerusalem to venerate the holy places, she received this icon as a gift from Christians, brought it to Constantinople and placed it in the palace chapel, where the shrine had been for five centuries.
The miraculous image was brought to our lands by the founder of the city of Lvov, the Galician-Volyn prince Lev Danilovich, and placed in the Belz castle under the guidance of the Orthodox clergy.
Subsequently, during the conquest of Western Ukraine by the Poles, the miraculous icon went to the Polish ruler, Prince Vladislav of Opolsky. Having founded in 1352 a monastery on Yasnaya Gora in the Polish city of Czestochowa, Prince Vladislav transferred the miraculous shrine to it, entrusting it to the monks for safekeeping. A few years later the monastery was robbed by the Hussites. Depriving the monastery of all treasures, they wanted to steal the miraculous image, but an invisible force held back the horses, and the cart with the shrine did not budge. In a rage, one of the robbers threw the holy icon to the ground, and the other struck the face with a sword. Immediately, a fair punishment befell everyone: the first was torn to pieces, the second's hand withered, the rest fell dead or went blind. Since then, two scars have appeared on the cheek of the Virgin (from the blow of the Hussite sabers), and all lists from this image have the same scars.
Many miracles from the Czę stochowa miraculous image were witnessed in a special book kept in the church of the Czę stochowa Monastery.
For the first time we got acquainted with this image on a trip to the town of Brailov near Vinnitsa as part of a weekend tour "Mysterious stories of great people". In Brailov, the community is divided equally - Catholics and Orthodox. There is no friction on religious grounds, mixed marriages. Opposite each other are the Orthodox monastery and the Roman Catholic Church. And in both churches there are lists from the image of the Mother of God of Czestochowa. The Brailovo-Czestochowa icon was also famous for its large number of healings. Near it there are many so-called "pendants". This is the gratitude of people for healing.
In the Bogorodichny Hall of Radomysl Castle there are also old chests intended for the dowry of a girl getting married.
Chests and dowry
When a girl was given in marriage, then such a chest followed her in the wagon train, where there were tablecloths, and sheets, and festive clothes, and much more.
In addition to the collection of icons, the museum contains many household items. There are several types of spinning wheels. . .
. . . irons, cradles, sleds for children. . .
Children's sled
. . . beehives with images of saints (for honey to flow). . .
Beehives
. . . and boats carved from solid wood.
I was personally very interested in wicker vessels for liquid. A special technique of weaving from vines and straw made it possible to fill the vessel with liquids.
At the same time, the straw swelled and nothing flowed out! And this is without the use of ceramics or glass, for example.
And there are many old photographs in the museum's collection. From these black and white photographs, people from the past are looking at us, smartly dressed, in national costumes. How interesting to look at them! It's like looking through time.
The atmosphere in the castle is amazing! Apparently, the long-term prayerfulness of the icons is having an effect.
Currently, wedding ceremonies can be held in the castle. There is even a special ritual hall for this.
Ceremonial hall
Ceremonial hall
It contains a unique stone icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker of the 11th century.
Stone Icon
There are only eight of these in all of Ukraine. Very rare icon! We saw this for the first time.
In the Ceremonial Hall, two types of an amazing and almost forgotten musical instrument, the harmonium, are exhibited. One copy of the first invented, with one pedal. . .
. . . and the second one is already richer and has a more modern look.
Harmonium
Both are tuned and played during ceremonies.
We also attend a paper-making workshop and walk in the park. Its stone bridges. . .
Stone bridges
. . . cozy islands surrounded by greenery. . .
. . . and ancient sculptures. . .
simply fascinate us.
Time to travel. (Continued in the second part).
