Berdychiv

Berdychiv grew around a Discalced Carmelite monastery founded in 1630 and fortified with bastions, walls and towers, which is still the town's central structure, with the church of the Immaculate Conception inside it. Honore de Balzac married Ewelina Hanska in the church of St Barbara here in 1850, five months before his death, and a small museum marks it. The town was a major Jewish centre and its old cemetery survives on the edge.

Background

People lived here as early as the 2nd millennium BC, and Bronze Age settlements and two of the Chernyakhov culture have been found. In 1430 Grand Duke Vytautas granted the area to Kalinik, and a servant of his named Berdich is believed to have founded a remote homestead here. By 1545 the Tyszkiewicz family owned it, and city rights followed in 1593. Janusz Tyszkiewicz Łohojski funded the Carmelite monastery, built from 1627 to 1642, where a printing house was founded in 1760. Berdychiv grew into a trading and banking centre and grew poor after banking shifted to Odesa in the mid-19th century. Jewish life flourished here too, and the town played an important part in the growth of Hasidism.

Source: Wikipedia, "Berdychiv"

What you'll find

• The Carmelite monastery - a fortified complex of walls, bastions and towers.
• The church of St Barbara - where Balzac married Hanska in 1850.
• The monastery museum - displays on the complex and its history.
• The Jewish cemetery - the old burial ground on the edge of the town.

When to go

April to October is the comfortable season. The monastery is open through the day and the museum keeps shorter hours. Winter is quiet.

Good to know

The town is run down outside the monastery. The Balzac connection amounts to a church and a small display. The Jewish cemetery is overgrown and hard to find without directions.

Nearby

Zhytomyr is north, and Vinnytsia is southwest.

Key facts