ORIGINS.

Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast,  in the Soviet era referred to as Stanislavshchyna or Stanislav Oblast, is is also known to Ukrainians by a deep-rooted alternative name: Prykarpattia.  Together with the oblasts of Lviv and Ternopil, Prykarpattia forms the main body of the historic region of eastern Halychyna or Galicia, which in the 13th century was a part of the Kingdom of Rus and the Halych-Volyn Principality or Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia. Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast is home to several Ukrainian cultures including the Hutsuls, Lemky, Boyky, and others.

ART & CULTURE.

Ivano Frankivsk Oblast is home of numerous cultural festivals including the Ukrainian International festival of ethnic music and land art “Sheshory” that usually takes place in the picturesque Hutsul village of the same name in the  Kosiv Raion since 2003. The city of Ivano-Frankivsk hosts several other festivals such as the All-Ukrainian festival of art collectives “Carpathian Spring” that takes place every May. Every two years the festival of modern art “Impreza” takes place every other year.

In 2000 a monument of cultural heritage in the Ivano-Frankivsk Region was erected in the city of Kolomyya called the Pysanka Museum which now contains more than 13 thousand pysanky [Ukrainian painted Easter eggs] and is the only one of its kind in the world.

The Carpathian Mountains

The Carpathian Mountains encompass nearly half of the land area of Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast. This region is one of the few places in Ukraine suitable for the development of winter recreation. In the lowlands, snow cover persists, as a rule, from the beginning of December to March, in the highlands – from October to the end of May. In total, there are more than 30 ski lifts. The Bukovel Ski Resort is one of the most popular ski resorts in the Ukrainian Carpathian Mountains situated 30 km (19 mi) southwest of the city of Yaremche.

Bukovel comprises facilities situated at five mountains: Dovha (1,372 m), Bukovel (1,127 m), Bulchinekha (1,455 m), Babiy Pohar (1,180 m), and Chorna Kleva (1,241 m) thus giving it 60 km of ski runs of various difficulty levels.  It is also a popular site for cyclists. The Bukovel Bike Park organizes and hosts a number of biking events yearly, including the Bukovel Grand Bike Fest, Ukraine’s National DownHill Championship and Bukovel DH.

Kolomyya

The National Museum of Hutsulshchyna & Pokuttya Folk Art, named after Yosaphat Kobrynsky is located in a building constructed in the style of the Vienna Neo-Renaissance. Founded in 1926 this folk art museum features more than 50,000 artworks representing the folk traditions and art of the Hutsul and Pokutian cultures that includes examples of the time-honored crafts of carving, forging, pottery, weaving, and embroidery. Here you can see traditional clothing of the mountaineers, Hutsul jewelry made from non-ferrous and precious metals, traditional musical instruments, pottery, paintings, and weapons.

The Pysanka Museum.  Here you can find a unique collection of pysanky – Easter eggs decorated with traditional Ukrainian folk designs. The building of the museum, opened in the central part of the city in 2000, is made in the form of a huge 13-meter high pysanka.

In total, there are more than 13,000 exhibits representing traditions of all regions of Ukraine. Also there are works created by masters from Russia, Poland, Czechia, Romania, Slovakia, countries of Western Europe, and America. The museum’s souvenir shop offers a wide selection of original hand-written Easter eggs, each a work of art.

Yaremche

Yaremche is a low-mountain resort, located in an extremely picturesque mountain hollow by the bank of the Prut river. The road to the highest peak of the Ukrainian Carpathians, Mount Hoverla, runs through the city. The mountain is a very popular hiking destination located in the Eastern Beskids, in the Chornohora region and is part of the Karpatsky National Park.  The name is of Hungarian origin and means “snow fortress”.  Its slopes are covered with beech and spruce forests, above which there is a belt of sub-alpine meadows called polonyna in Ukrainian.  

According to a legend, the name ‘Yaremche’ is derived from the name of Yarema Hodovanets, a Hutsul, who was the first to settle in this territory. Nowadays, Yaremche is the most popular tourist resort of Subcarpathia, it has more than 40 tourist and recreational establishments and sanatoria, as well as more than 100 green tourism facilities.