Kryvorivnia

Kryvorivnia strings along the Black Cheremosh below steep pastures and has an outsized place in Ukrainian culture: Ivan Franko, Mykhailo Hrushevsky and Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky all stayed here, Kotsiubynsky wrote Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors from what he saw, and Serhiy Paradzhanov filmed it in the village in 1964. There are small museums in the houses connected with them - the house used in the film is one - a wooden church of the Nativity of the Theotokos from 1719, and the working village around it, counted as the summer and winter capital of the Hutsuls.

What you'll find

• The writers' houses - small museums in the buildings Franko and Hrushevsky used.
• The film connection - the village where Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors was shot.
• The wooden church - a Hutsul-type timber church above the river.
• The valley - scattered homesteads on steep slopes along the Cheremosh.

When to go

May to October is the comfortable season. Museums keep short and irregular hours. Autumn colour along the Cheremosh is the best of the year.

Good to know

The museums are small and often shut; calling ahead or asking in Verkhovyna helps. The village is spread over several kilometres of valley. Without knowing the books or the film, much of the significance is invisible.

Nearby

Verkhovyna is upstream, and Kosiv is north down the valley.

Key facts