Pochaiv Lavra, Pochaiv
The largest monastery of Volhynia: Potocki’s Dormition Cathedral, a 65 m bell tower and an 18th-century printing house; today the UOC (MP) on state land.
According to tradition, monks came here from the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra in 1240–1241; documentally the monastery was founded in 1597 by Anna Hoiska, owner of Pochaiv, who gave it the icon of the Pochaiv Mother of God, which she had received in 1559 from Metropolitan Neophytos (VUE). Hegumen Job Zalizo governed the monastery in 1604–1651 and was canonised in 1659. In 1713–1831 the monastery belonged to the Basilians; in 1838 it received the status of a lavra. The Dormition Cathedral was built in 1771–1784 at the expense of Count Mikołaj Potocki: the design was drawn by Gottfried Hoffmann, and the works were led by Piotr Polejowski (7chudes.in.ua dates the construction to 1771–1783). The bell tower, 65 m high — the third in Ukraine after the Great Lavra bell tower and that of St Sophia — was built in 1861–1869 to a design by Kostiantyn Rastrukhanov (7chudes.in.ua gives 1861–1871). The Trinity Cathedral of 1906–1912 was designed by Oleksii Shchusev and Oleksii Rukhliadiev. The printing house, according to 7chudes.in.ua, operated from 1730 and issued 187 books; a separate building for it was put up in 1895–1896. The buildings are state property on the books of the Kremenets-Pochaiv reserve; they are used by a men’s monastery of the UOC (MP). On 24 June 2026 the State Service for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience began an inspection of the Lavra for links with the russian Orthodox Church; on 22 July it published a finding of signs of affiliation and issued an order (LB.ua, 25.07.2026).
A working men’s monastery of the UOC (MP) on the territory of the Kremenets-Pochaiv State Historical and Architectural Reserve; admission free, Lavra tel. (03546) 61218 (discover.ua). Kremenets, with its castle hill and collegium, is 25 km away — convenient to combine in one day.