Religious-pilgrim tourism in the west of Ukraine: main centres and shrines

Abstract

This study analyzes the formation factors and major centres and shrines of pilgrimage and religious tourism in the Western region of Ukraine. The article presents structure of the religious space of 8 regions of Western Ukraine in the context of major Christian denominations. According to the latest statistics in the West of Ukraine, among the Christian denominations we can see dominance of believers and communities of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate and the Roman Catholic Church. The main pilgrimage centres that represent the Christian denominations of the region are characterized by attracting their faithful and at the same time serving as religious tourism centres for a wider range of people. These include, among others: Univ Lavra, Krekhiv and Hoshiv Monasteries, the Marian Spiritual Centre in Zarvanytsia (Greek-Catholic Church); Maniava Skete, St. George Monastery on the Cossack Graves (Orthodox Church of Ukraine); Pochayiv Lavra, Zymne and Mezhyrich Monasteries, Monasteries in Bukovyna and Transcarpathia (Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate). At the same time, the Roman Catholic Church is represented by sanctuaries: Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Lviv, churches in Stryi, Bilshivtsi, Chortkiv, Letychiv and other settlements. The annual number of visitors to these major centres is between 30 and 100 thousand people a year. Regarding non-Christian religions, there are important shrines in the region for Hasidic pilgrims in Belz, Medzhybizh and other towns. At the same time, a number of regional centres are important destinations. There are many temples in Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lutsk, Ternopil, which, given the presence of objects of religious worship and significant architectural appeal, perform both a pilgrimage and a religious-tourist function. Religious shrines, which are primarily of natural origin, are often an important component of the pilgrimage-tourist movement in the West of Ukraine. These include the appearance of the Virgin Mary, including individual hills or springs, as well as ancient cave monasteries. Numerous pilgrimage and travel agencies actively promote visits of believers and tourists to them. Development of religious and pilgrimage centres is related to the development of service infrastructure, service complexes and a network of different types of accommodation. It may be recommended to organize more educational and scholarly events of ecumenical nature and meetings of faithful of different denominations in the well-known religious centres of the region. Key words: pilgrimage, religious tourism, denominations, temple, shrine, pilgrimage centre, infrastructure.