The village of Pidhirtsi, which is located in the Lviv oblast, hosts a 250-year-old castle. Nobody has been maintaining it since Soviet times. It has been falling into decay ever since, until its walls became covered with mold, teetering on the brink of collapse.
However, about eight years ago three families, namely the Herha, Bernyk and Onyshkevych, purchased Pidhirtsi Castle. Two of them are inhabitants of the village with the third family coming from Lviv.
Svitlana Herha, who is one of the castle’s owners, prefers not to mention the price of the castle or the expenses on the renovation works. Nevertheless, she does say that it costs an arm and a leg to maintain it in view of the annually increasing prices on maintenance materials and utilities.
Read about the goal of the purchase and tribute to history in the longread from the Media of Great Stories.
Acquaintance with the castle
We live in the village of Pidhirtsi, so through the years we have been witnesses to the decay of this palace. Its former owner had not been maintaining it for 15 years. We wrote letters to different state authorities, in particular to the department on cultural heritage and to the Lviv gallery of arts. Its late Director, Borys Voznytskyy, had even written a letter to the then president Yushchenko asking for help. However, there are hundreds of such objects in Ukraine with this castle being privately owned. It had been removed from the State Register of Immovable Landmarks of Ukraine and there was nothing we could have done about it.
While the palace was falling into decay, other inhabitants of the village and I were at least taking care of its park. Once the owner of the castle himself offered to buy it out. One family could have hardly coped with that task, which is why we started to offer our acquaintances to buy it. A castle lying in derelict is not something that someone would like to buy. After our offer had been turned down several times, two other families and mine made a decision to buy the castle by our own means in order to save it.
Reconstruction
We bought antiques at flea markets and antique stores abroad. The locals would bring us Items for the castle’s interior.
Our three families acquired this castle in 2014 and we set out right away to renovate it. It was effectively totally decayed: there were no supporting walls, no windows, no doors or roof. For the past eight years we have managed to complete large-scale engineering works. We have reinforced the walls with special metal works so that they did not fall apart. We have also done the foundation seal and installed a drainage system. In 2021 we completed the final stage of big renovation works, having roofed two towers and two side terraces.
We have installed a heating system, having divided it into sections. This has allowed us to desiccate the castle. Before its basement had been totally flooded. They even used to breed juvenile fish there. It is still damp in the basement, although we have installed water absorbers in there.
We have also rebuilt the semi-basement which measures 250 square meters. We have set up two rooms on the ground floor by embellishing them with antique furniture, plasterwork and the items of the epoch during which the palace was constructed. Our historian tells us that the interior of it looks much better now than it did in the times of its previous owners. The palace had been last renovated back in 1895 in the times of the Brunytskys family who tried to render it rather comfortable than eye-filling. Two more towers were built in the palace in that year, it was also put on to the water mains, connected to mains electricity and to the telephone line, and a sewage system was installed. However, the place lacked a nice interior design.
Before its basement had been totally flooded. They even used to breed juvenile fish there. It is still damp in the basement, although we have installed water absorbers in there.
Since then nothing has been preserved in the palace. There are only photos of its former owners, one picture that was presented to us by private collectors, a cup and shards of lamps. Therefore, we brought in all pieces of furniture and interior design to our liking. However, we did stick to the style of the epoch during which it was erected. We visited palaces in Ukraine, Poland and the Czech Republic, comparing their interior design. We bought antiques at flea markets and antique shops abroad. The locals would bring us items for the castle’s interior.
There is still much to be done but the bigger chunk of work has already been completed. Façade is to be partially restored and interior decor is to be taken care of. In 2022 we are planning to finish renovation works of another four rooms on the ground floor. However, there are way more of them in the castle. There is no knowing when we will take care of all the rooms there. We invest in this exclusively our own money, since nobody has expressed a wish to assist us. Foreign grants are not available because the palace is privately owned. Up until now we have received no such offers from Ukrainian companies or benefactors. Everyone keeps saying, ‚It’s your choice. You know what you were going for’.
Tourism
We have been letting visitors in since last fall. The entrance fee is rather symbolic – 70 UAH (approximately 2,5 USD – editor’s note). This money will barely suffice to sponsor the renovation works, since about 30 thousand UAH (a bit over 1000 USD – editor’s note) alone is monthly spent to cover the heating costs. However, it is enough to at least pay the remuneration to the person who shows visitors around the palace.
Until the new year of 2022 we had been organizing themed nights. On Sundays we would hold an event featuring a historian who delivered a lecture on the history of our region. The event was held in a room with a fireplace where guests could drink coffee or tea and treat themselves to some cakes. We charged 200 UAH (7 USD – editor’s note) for that, but it was not done to a financial end. We were rather pursuing the goal of generating people’s interest in the history of the palace. They did express such an interest. However, for the time being we are not holding these events considering the holidays and the spike in COVID-19 cases.
However, on April 15, we are planning to plant magnolia trees in the park. There used to grow lots of these trees but they were all destroyed. An educational orphanage was built there instead. Now there is a mailbox placed at the entrance to the palace into which everyone who wishes to do so can make a donation for the new trees instead of paying the entrance fee.
The palace is open to photo sessions, presentations and similar events. We have finished all emergency works, so there is no danger to the visitors.
A unique park
There is a park of 8,3 hectares (about 205 acres – editor’s note) in the vicinity of the palace. This is the dendrological part of the 17th century that has preserved unique plants. Trees for the part were brought in from all over the world. Interestingly, they are not common to our climate or soil.
The heart of the park is the biggest plane tree in Ukraine. It is about 200 years old and it is without peer in the entire Europe. The park also hosts a ginkgo blob tree, which is often called one of the oldest types of trees on our planet, and European beech. Also, there are lots of really unique hybrid plants.
We take care only of the plot of 1,5 hectares (about 37 acres – editor’s note), which gives it the appearance of a park. The rest of the plots have not been cleared yet.
We organize the ‚Environment Day’ twice a year on which we clean the park up together with our friends and the kids from the educational orphanage.
Should this not be done, the park will look like a forest. Literally last fall we cleaned it up and it looked gorgeous. However, the recent whirlwinds have wreaked havoc so that we have to clear it again.
Why would the owners bother?
Not once have we thought about giving up on the reconstruction. If we did not enjoy it, we would not bother to keep doing it in the first place. I guess we are motivated by the roots of our ancestors which just don’t let us abandon the palace.
We have already done the most important thing, which is saving the palace. Should no opportunity to continue renovation works for a certain period of time present itself in the future, the building will not collapse. We have to preserve the past since without it there is no future.
