Budenec

Budenets is a village in the Storozhynets district of the Chernivtsi region, located 11 kilometers south of the district center. From the center of Storozhynets, we head south along Bohdan Khmelnytskyi Street, towards the Bukovyna Carpathians. The village is primarily known for its mineral waters. There is a source of Bukovynska hydro-carbonate water in Budenka, which is bottled right there. In the Moldovan chronicles, the village was first mentioned earlier than Storozhynets, namely in 1435. It was once a number of farms in the valley of the Malyi Seret River, later united under the name Budenets, which came from the name of the Budei stream, a tributary of the Malyi Seret. In Austrian times, Budenets was owned by the family of Polish feudal lords Volchynski, who left behind a magnificent palace in the center of the village.

The main architectural sights of the village include the Mikuli-Wolczynski Palace, a late nineteenth-century church, and the wooden church of the holy archangels Michael and Gabriel.

The road slowly climbs up through a dense beech forest toward the Romanian border. After about 20 kilometers, the first settlement appears - the village of Budenets. It should be noted that the so-called "Romanian" part of Bukovyna begins from Budenets, as well as to the east and south of it. In Budenets, as in most villages in this region, the Romanian population predominates, so it will not be easy to hear Ukrainian or other languages on the streets. So, from Storozhynets, you have to drive 11 kilometers south along a rather picturesque road surrounded by beech forests on both sides.

Before entering the village, on the left, on a hill, there is the first architectural attraction of Budenets - the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The church was built in 1891 at the expense of Maria de Petrino for the needs of local Roman Catholics, mostly Germans, who had previously been forced to attend services in Storozhynets. The building later became the de Petrino family tomb. The church was built in the Neo-Gothic style. The church is not large in area, but it is quite high. Now the church is surrounded by tall trees, among which it looks especially nice. During the interwar period, the Germans left Budenets, so the church was practically not used. After the Second World War, the church was closed, which caused it to fall into decay. In 1994, the church was returned to the small community of local Roman Catholics.

Almost in the center of the village, to the left of the main road, a yellow building with two pseudo-Gothic decorative turrets on the pediment will attract the traveler's attention. This palace of the late nineteenth century reminds us of the former greatness of the Polish landowners - the masters of Budenets. Here you will see the next architectural attraction of the village - the Mikuli-Wolczynski Palace.

In the nineteenth century, the Polish family of Volchynski owned a large amount of the surrounding land. When the daughter of the landowner Volchynskyi married Mr. Mikulia, he decided to build a palace that would show the greatness of the family. It is said that in the late nineteenth century French architects were invited to build the romantic palace.

Once upon a time, the palace was surrounded by a small but picturesque arboretum, of which only a 300-year-old oak tree has survived to this day. There is an outbuilding next to the palace. Mikulia's palace has survived to the present day in almost perfect condition and is one of the most original monuments of palace art in Bukovyna.

Nowadays, the palace building houses a village school with Romanian as the language of instruction, which is not surprising, since this is where ethnically Romanian Bukovyna begins, and the majority of the population of Budenci is Romanian.

Opposite the palace, to the left of the main road, a mineral water pump room and a modern tourist complex are being built on the basis of the Bukovynska-2 sodium hydrogen carbonate mineral water source, which will be called the "Panskyi Maiatok" (Manor House).

If you look across the street from the palace, you will see a newly built stone church. We need to go there, because next to it is the last architectural attraction of Budenets, the wooden church of the holy archangels Michael and Gabriel. The new church was built in recent years and it literally sparkles with its novelty.

The wooden church of the holy archangels Michael and Gabriel was built in 1799-1803 in the typical Bukovinian village hut style. The church is a three-dimensional structure with a high, steep roof, on which there are three almost identical signatures. A wooden bell tower stands next to the church. I have never seen such an unusual shape of a bell tower before. That's why it was memorable for a long time.