Historical and cultural resources are the basis of cognitive tourism. This includes various types of historical sights, memorials, museums and, theatres. Cultural inheritance is the inheritance of the historical development of civilization. In Ukraine, practically every locality can be used for the development of cognitive tourism.
Ukraine has a lot of historical and cultural sights of various epochs, which cover from the Paleolithic period to our days. Many regions of Ukraine, especially the Carpathians and Polesye saved folk customs and ceremonies, original folklore and artistic trades, which can become the basis for the organization of international tourism.
Historical and cultural sites play an important part in the development of tourist activity, as evidence of the talent of the Ukrainian people and its history. More than 70 thousand sights of history and culture are under the protection of state (including over 12 ths. of sights of architecture, which are most valuable for tourism), which are examples of monumental works of art, from III century to the current era.
Architectural sites in Ukraine are placed unevenly. They are found mostly in the western and north-central oblasts of Ukraine, and in Crimea. The eastern and southern regions are relatively poor in noteworthy architecture and the oldest of them can be ascribed only to XVII century. This is related to the late assimilation of these territories.
Most architectural sights are in Lvov city (2,500) and Lvov region, which can be explained by early assimilation of this territory, remoteness from theater of operations of past, relatively high economic development, and considerable density of population. Lvov, located on crossing of important trade-routes from North to South and from West to East, always played an important part, at first, as capital of Galicia-Volyn state, then as one of largest (equally with Krakow and Warsaw) cities of Poland, and afterwards Austria-Hungarian empire.
Many of the most prominent sights are in Lvov. This includes its market square and many churches the houses between them (Market square – ÕV-Õ²Õ centuries, Armenian (Õ²V-Õ²Õ centuries) and Russian (ÕV-ÕÕ century) streets, churches of John the Baptist (ÕII-Õ²V centuries), st. Nikolay (XIII century), Pyatnytskaya (Õ²V century), church of st. Maria Snezhnaya (XIII century), Cathedral (XIV-ÕVIII centuries), st. Andrey (XVII century), Jesuits (XVII century) churches and others. Ensembles of Uspenskaya church (ÕV²-ÕVII century), Svyatoyurskiy (XVIII century) and Armenian (Õ²V-ÕVIII century) cathedrals; Dominicans church (XVIII century), as well as some houses and palaces on Market square - Black Kamyanytsa (XVI century), palace of Kornyakt (XVI century).In the city the buildings and city structure of the Middle Ages are among the best-saved in Ukraine. The Government of Ukraine is preparing a proposition concerning including Lvov into the list of world cities of highest cultural value.
Among other cities in Lvov region, Zhovkva, which has a well-kept ensemble of late Middle-Ages city (XVI-XVII centuries), and is surrounded by defensive walls with towers and gates, and also Drogobych, Sambir, Brody, Zolochiv have a special value.
Castles in the region have a great architectural value, including Olesskiy (Õ²V-ÕVIII century), Svirzkiy (XV century), Pomoryanskiy (XVI century), the castle in Stare Selo (XVI century), Zolochev, Brody, Podgortsy (all of XVII century) and some others.
Region has concentration of palace-park ensembles of XVIII (Obroshyno, Chervonograd, Mostyska, Skelivka, Lyubin’ Velikiy) and XIX centuries (Sudova Vishnya, Vishnya, Smerekovkaya, Skole, Turka and others).
Wooden churches are distinguished by the originality of the architecture and the valuable internal decoration, with the oldest of them of XV century origin (Drogobytch, Zhovkva, Potelich, Nizhnee Vysotskoe, Mostkov, Turka, Bukovisko, Staraya Sol and others).
Many settlements saved age-old monasteries, most valuable of them being in Lavrov (XIII-Õ²Õ centuries), Podkamen (ÕV-ÕVIII century), Khrehov (ÕV²²-ÕV²²² century), Podgortsy (XVIII century) and others.
Foreign tourists will take an interest in the Gothic cathedrals of Õ²V-ÕV² centuries in Skelivtcy, Nove Misto, Vizhnyaks, Drogobych, Dukoyev, Sambir, and the synagogues of XVI-XVII centuries in Zhovkva, Brody.
Kiev is Ukraine’s second city by quantity of sights of architecture (over 1,500). First of all, these are buildings of the Kievan Rus epoch - Golden Gates (1037), Sophia Cathedral (1037), Vydubitskiy Monastery (XI-XVIII century), Kirilovskaya church (XII century), Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra (XI - early XX century). Among the oldest buildings, the following should be marked out: Andreevskaya and Pokrovskaya (Prevention) churches, Mariinskiy and Klovskiy palaces (XVIII century), some churches and dwelling houses on Podol (ÕV²²-ÕVIII century). In XIX century, a number of buildings were built, the most important being the University, Vladimirskiy Cathedral and the Opera Theater. UNESCO has included the buildings of Sophia Cathedral and Kiev-Pechersk Lavra into the list of world cultural legacy.
Kamenets-Podolskiy is a city-preserve, which comes third in Ukraine by quantity of sights of architecture (over 150). Special value should be paid to the Old Fortress (Õ²-ÕVIII century), the defensive complex of the Old City (Õ²V-ÕVIII century), Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches, houses and civil buildings of ÕII²-XIX centuries
Prominent sights of architecture are situated in Chernigov – Spaso-Preobrazhenskiy (Savior-Transfiguration) Cathedral (1030), Borisoglebskiy Cathedral (XII century), Uspenskiy (Assumption) Cathedral (XII century), Pyatnitskaya, Ilyinskaya churches (XII-XIII century), Yeletskiy and Troitskiy (Trinity) (Õ²²-ÕVIII centuries) monasteries; the house of the regimental office and Kateryninskaya Church of XVII century have exceptional value.
In Ukraine sights connected to the colonization of the Black Sea coastal region by ancient Greeks have been saved. This includes, first of all, the ruins of Khersones Panticapeya in Crimea, and Olviya in Nikolayev region.
Because of frequent attacks by foreign invaders in Ukraine, a number of castles and fortresses having European-wide value, were built on its territory. The most valuable are castles in Uzhgorod (XI-XVI century), Nevitskiy, Kremenets, Hotin, Belgorod-Dnestrovskiy, Lutsk, Mukachevo, Sudak, Ostrog (XIII-XIV century), castles of Volyn, and Podol (XIV-XVII century).
Monasteries have always been centers of pilgrimage, one of the oldest kinds of tourist activity. The most prominent architectural complexes include monasteries in Mezherechye (XV-XVII century) in Rivne region, Zimnyanskiy (XIII-XVIII century) in Volyn region, Pochaev Lavra (XVI-XIX centuries) in Ternopol region, Gustinskiy (XVII-XVIII centuries) in Chernigov region, Mgarskiy (XVII-XIII centuries) in Poltava region, Slovyanogorskiy (XVII-XIX centuries) in Donetsk region, and Mukachevskiy (XVIII-XIX centuries) in Trans-Carpathian region.
The widespread building of palace-park ensembles began in XVIII century in Ukraine. The best examples are the palace-park ensembles in Tulchin, Pyatnichany, Voronovitsy, Antopol (all of XVIII century), Stara Priluka, Chernyatin, Murovanye Kurilivtsy, Nemirov, Kotyuzhany, Verhivka (all of XIX century) in Vinnitsa region; palace of Potyomkin (XVIII century) in Dnepropetrovsk, Verhivka (XVIII century), Nova Chartoriya (XIX century) in Zhitomir region; palaces of XVI-XVII century in Beregovo, Vinogradov, Mukachevo, Uzhgorod of Trans-Carpathian region; Alupka, Livadiya palaces of XIX century in Crimea; palaces of Vorontsov, Pototskiy and others (XIX century) in Odessa; palaces in Berezovaya Rudka (XVIII-XIX century) in Poltava region; Kiyanitsa (XIX century) in Sumy region; Vyshnivtsy (XVIII century), Mikulintsy (XIX century) in Ternopol region; Merchik (XVIII century), Shcharovka (XIX century), Lyubotin (XIX century) in Kharkov region; Antoniny (XVIII century), Samchiki (XIX century), Novoselika (XIX century), Maleevtsy (XVIII-XIX century) in Khmelnitskiy region, Korsun (XVIII-XIX century), Kozatskiy (XIX century) in Cherkassy region; Vishenki (XVIII century), Baturin (XVIII-XIX century), Kachanivka (XVIII-XIX century), Sokirintsy (XIX century) in Chernigov region, and residence of Bukovyna metropolitans of XIX century in Chernovtsy.
Historical-architectural preserves are created in Lvov, Kiev, Chernigov, Kamyanets-Podolskiy, Lutsk, Ostrog, Zhovkva, Pereyaslav-Khmelnitskiy and other cities. Also Kachanivka, Olviya, Khersones, Olesko, Galich, Novgorod-Siverskiy, Kanev, Chigirin and others have the status of preserve.
A prominent place in the treasury of the cultural inheritance of Ukraine belongs to old parks, which have large historical and artistic value. Parks “Sofievka” in Uman', “Alexandria” in Belaya Tserkov, “Trostyanets”, "Kachanivskiy" in Chernigov region, "Striyskiy" in Lvov, parks of AR Crimea and many others are known far outside Ukraine, and they are considered to be pearls of park architecture and dendrology.
Ukraine has 529 parks with garden art and 35 dendrology parks, which have the special protective status of objects of the natural-preserve fund. Among parks-sights of garden-park art 88 objects have national value, and among dendro-parks – 19 objects.
A considerable part of parks-sights of garden-park art is old parks created in XVII-XIX centuries. Most of them are situated in AR Crimea (among them are well-known Alupka, Gurzuf, Livadiya and other parks); in Vinnitsa region – Nemirov, Pecherskiy, Chernyatin, in Khmelnitskiy – Malievetskiy, Mikhaylovskiy, Samchikovskiy, in Lvov – Striyskiy, Podgortsevskiy, in Zhitomir region – Ivnitskiy, Novochortoriyskiy, Troshchanskiy. Also Kiev, Ternopol, Kharkov, Cherkassy regions and Kiev city are rich in pearls of art.
Among dendrological parks created on basis of parks of XVII-XIX centuries, the following are famous and attract special attention “Alexandria” (Belaya Tserkov), "Sofievka» (Uman), “Trostyanets” (Chernigov region), “Veselye Bokovenki» (Kirovograd region), “Askaniya-Nova» (Kherson region).
Ukraine has a lot of places connected to life and activity of outstanding figures of Ukrainian and other peoples. The villages Kirilovka and Morintsy in Cherkassy region, the cities of Kyiv, Pereyaslav-Khmelnitskiy, Kanev and others, which are important tourist centers of Ukraine, are connected with name of Taras Shevchenko. Ivan Franko was born in Noguevichi of Lvov region, Lesya Ukrainka – in Novograd-Volynskiy, M. Kotsubinskiy – in Vinnitsa, Bogdan Khmelnitskiy – in v. Subotov. Memorial complexes are created there.
Memorial complexes and museums are created in these, and many other settlements, connected with life of prominent figures of Ukrainian people.
For a long period of time, outstanding figures of Russian science and culture lived in Ukraine – O. Pushkin (Bahchisaray, Odessa), A. Chekhov (Sumy, Yalta), V. Korolenko – (Poltava), M. Gogol (v. Vish-Vasilivka, Nezhin), A. Kuprin (Kiev, Khmelnitskiy), P. Tchaikovsky (Kamyanka, Odessa) and others; of Polish – A. Mitskevich (Bahchisaray, Odessa), Y. Slovatskiy (Kremenets), Y. Ivashkevich (Kiev); of Austrian – C. Marx (Lvov), Y. Rot (Brody); of Czech - Y. Gashek (Kiev); of French – O. Balzac (Verhivnya, Kiev), of Hungarian - M. Munkachi (Mukachevo); of Georgian - D. Gouramishvili (Myrgorod) and other figures of many countries of world.
Since long ago, ancient cities Feodosiya, Lvov, and Kamenets-Podolskiy were centers of settlement of Armenian Diaspora, in which many material monuments of Armenian people were kept.