THE NATIONAL FOLK DANCE ENSEMBLE

The photographs in this album speak of what the Rivne region has meant to man through the ages, speak of the richness of this region. The Rivne region is a land of majestic beauty, of rivers great and small cutting swath through the mass of dense forests. It is a land of lakes, some small and placid, other so large that you lose sight of the distant shore. In this land, past generations have left their unique culture. The period of time that separates us from the beginnings of that culture is great, but those monuments that have come down to us are models of fine workmanship.

Although the Rivne region was founded on the 4-th of December 1939, this land has a long and stirring history. In olden days, many times Pogoryna (the old name for this area) was the cause of internecine strife between the princes of Kyiv and Volhyn'. The local population heroically resisted the Golden Horde and the Lithuanian and Polish invaders. Remains of feudal castles and fortifications stand as reminders of those times. Numerous towns and villages of the Rivne region were involved in the liberation war of the Ukrainian people (1648-1654) headed by Bogdan Khmelnitsky. In 1651, the Battle of Berestechko took place here. To commemorate the Cossacks who fell in this battle against Polish troops, the state museum has been opened in the village of Plyasheva, Radyvyliv district.

According to the Andrusiv Treaty of 1667, almost all Ukrainian territories west of the Dnipro river, including the Rivne region, entered the Polish state. In 1793, these lands became a part of the Russian Empire. In 1919, the Rivne region was occupied by Poland. In 1939, the region was added to the USSR. The first years after establishment of the independent Ukrainian state in 1991 have appeared not easy for the Rivne region and the whole Ukraine as well. But because the impulses of spiritual revival had originally started here it is no wonder therefore that it is made a considerable contribution into the Ukraine's renaissance. Our sincere desire is to show the region to more and more tourists and visitors -- they will receive a cordial welcome.

Photography by Anatoliy Mizerny (Agency M&Co)

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