Krekhiv Monastery
A monastery complex in the woods, with defensive traits in its build.
The Monastery of St Nicholas was founded at the beginning of the 17th century by the monks Yoil and Sylvestr, who at first lived in caves near Krekhiv: according to ESU, around 1613–1618; according to the ESU article on the village, in 1612. The present buildings began to be erected in 1658, and in 1669 King Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki, by a charter, ordered the monastery to be built in masonry for protection against the enemy: stone walls with loopholes and five towers appeared. On 29 September 1672 the monastery was attacked by a Turkish-Tatar detachment; according to the monastery's website, a Cossack garrison headed by the young Ivan Mazepa was stationed here. The masonry Church of St Nicholas, according to ESU, was built in 1751 (the monastery's website: 1747–1751). In 1946, after the liquidation of the UGCC, the monastery was closed and a children's home was set up here, later a boarding school; on 29 August 1990 the Basilians returned. Today one can see the walls with towers and the Baroque gate of 1776 with a statue of St Nicholas, and in the forest the spring and the caves of the first monks.
A working monastery: dress and behave accordingly. Liturgies on weekdays at 7:30 and 16:30, on Saturday at 7:30, 10:00 and 16:30, on Sunday at 9:00, 11:00 and 16:30 (2026).