Чортків

The Chortkiv community lies in the Seret river valley on the border of Podillia and Halychyna. Its centre, Chortkiv, received Magdeburg rights in 1522 and grew into an important trading and military town. Its best-known landmark is the Golski Castle on the left bank of the Seret: a pentagonal fortress with two surviving towers and a Renaissance palace, now being restored as part of the Castles of Ternopil Region reserve. In the centre you can see the town hall with its clock tower and market rows, the neo-Gothic St Stanislaus church, the wooden Church of the Ascension of 1717 built without a single nail, and the Church of the Protection over a healing spring. Museums tell the story, notably the Chortkiv Offensive military-history museum devoted to the June 1919 offensive of the Ukrainian Galician Army. The community also includes the villages of Bychkivtsi, Bila, Horishnia Vyhnanka, Pastushe, Perekhody, Rosokhach and Skorodyntsi: Bychkivtsi has an oak over 320 years old, and Bila has a stone church from 1903 and Princely-era hillforts. Ivan Franko park and the Seret embankment are good for walks, and festivals and cycling races take place here in summer.