Mount Horodyshche (Boryslav)

Horodyshche (646 m; other sources give 641.8 m) is a hill in the Upper Dniester Beskids and the highest point of the town of Boryslav in Lviv Oblast. It used to be called Storozhnia. The hill rises in the south-western part of the town and separates its districts of Bania Kotivska and Mrazhnytsia. It is easy to recognise from afar: the rounded top stands apart from the neighbouring ridges, rises 200–250 m above the foothills, and carries an openwork TV tower on its summit.

Horodyshche is not a high mountain but a place where ancient history, the oil rush of the 19th and 20th centuries and the modern town meet in a single view. Locals from Boryslav and Truskavets walk up here, as do hikers heading further into the Beskids.

Getting there / routes

The regional marked route No. 11 «Boryslav – Dovbush Rocks» (yellow waymarks), set up by the tourism and resorts department of the Lviv regional administration, crosses the hill. It leads from the town over Horodyshche towards the Dovbush Rocks. The hill also makes a short walk from Boryslav itself: the climb starts right from the town streets.

For cyclists there are routes of the «VeloBeskydy» project: the «Monastery Road» from Boryslav and cycle route No. 4 to Mount Horodyshche (orange waymarks). The nearest water sources in our catalogue are Spring No. 3 (about 1.4 km to the south) and Drinking water (Boryslav).

At the southern foot of the hill, on the Tysmenytsia river, the small Boryslav waterfall is worth a look. The Bukovytsia ski area with chairlifts lies 2.3 km south of the summit, and Tsiukhiv rises 7 km to the south-west.

The view from the top

Boryslav lies right below the hill, with the foothills and the slopes of the Beskids beyond. Local historians point out an important detail: from Horodyshche you can clearly see Teptiuzh hill near Drohobych, which was also an ancient lookout, as well as the salt springs in neighbouring villages. This line of sight is one of the arguments for the theory that a watch post once stood on the summit.

Nature and history

The slopes of Horodyshche are mostly covered with beech forest, while the lower parts near the valleys are partly or fully open. Tributaries of the Tysmenka stream rise on the western slopes, the Tysmenytsia flows past the southern foot, and the Ratchyna river runs north of the summit.

The name means «hillfort site». Parts of a defensive rampart did survive on the summit, but in the 1970s they were largely destroyed when an oil pumpjack exploded. Nobody knows for sure what stood here. One theory says it was the «Boryslav» monastery that supposedly gave the town its name; another holds that it was a fortified lookout over the old salt road from Drohobych to Tustan fortress. A 1525 boundary document calls the hill between two villages «Storozhnia» (watch hill), which also points to a defensive role.

After oil deposits were discovered in the second half of the 19th century, the hill changed beyond recognition: a real forest of oil derricks replaced the trees on its slopes. At night the derricks were lit with electric lamps, and tourists from Truskavets, Lviv and even abroad came to see the lights of «Galician California». Later the derricks gave way to compact pumpjacks, which can still be seen on the slopes.

The TV tower on the summit was assembled by Boryslav drilling crews from a decommissioned drilling rig. According to Wikipedia this happened in 1972; the tower is 41 m tall, 43 m with antennas. Local historians tell a half-legend that the rig was raised overnight at the demand of a senior official who could not watch television in his Truskavets sanatorium.

Safety, season and rules

Horodyshche can be visited all year round and needs no special equipment, but after rain and in winter the steeper paths get slippery. Working oil wells and pumpjacks stand on the slopes — they are industrial sites: keep away from them, do not touch the equipment and do not enter fenced areas. Take your litter home and do not light fires in the forest. In an emergency call 112 or 101; rescue contacts are on the page mountain rescue.

Interesting facts

• Horodyshche is the highest point of Boryslav.
• The TV tower on the summit was built from a drilling rig — a monument to the town's oil past.
• The Boryslav waterfall at the foot of the hill only formed in the mid-1940s and keeps growing because of neotectonic uplift.

Photos: К.С.Павляк, CC BY-SA 2.5 — Wikimedia Commons.