Tukholka

Stryi district · Lviv region

Before traveling to the wonderful small village of Tukholka (about a thousand inhabitants), take care of renting an apartment. The village is located in the valley of the Brynivka River, within the Eastern Beskydy, 20 km from the district center of Skole, Lviv region, a few kilometers south of the ski resort of Plai. The international highway Kyiv-Lviv-Chop passes by the northern part of the village, which has a turn to the village of Nahirne. A secondary road that stretches through the village starts from here. This road used to be the main international road that went through the village of Klymets, Veretsky Pass, the villages of Verbyazh, Zavadka, and Nyzhni Vorota. This road had steep slopes and has survived to this day. The new international highway has already been built through the north of Tukholka village and the villages of Nahirne, Dolynivka, Smozhe, Latirka, Bilasovytsia, Kotelnytsia, Tyshiv, Nyzhni Vorota. Although this route is longer, it has no steep descents or ascents. At the crossroads of these roads in the village of Tukholka there is a cross that was erected in honor of the declaration of independence of Ukraine as an independent state on August 24, 1991.

The village of Tukholka, like other Carpathian villages, is surrounded by mountains and meadows. To the north of the village is Mount Dolzhka (1056 m). It is on the slopes of this mountain that the slopes of the ski resort of Plai are located. To the east of Tukholka is a small mountain Koloska (867 m). From this peak stretches a meadow that separates Tukholka from the villages of Plavia and Khitar. There are several local peaks on this meadow, including Mount Solotvynia (815 meters). There are three rivers in Tukholka. Two rivers, Kopanina and Rostoka, originate in the south of the village and form the Brynivka River in the north of the village. The Brynivka River then flows through the village of Plavia and flows into the Holovchanka River, which flows into the Opir River near the village of Tukhlia.

The first mention of the settlement of Mala Tukhlia is found in the charter of Kostiantyn Ostroh in 1552. Oleksa Dovbush is said to have visited the village often. According to legend, the founders of the settlement were three men who fled from the Tatars from neighboring Tukhlia and settled here - hence the name Mala Tukhlia, Tukholka. The village of Tukholka is known for the fact that in Lviv, in the Shevchenkivskyi Hai park-museum, there is a house from 1910 from this village. This house belonged to the village elder F. Barna. It consists of two living quarters separated by a hallway. The right room is adjacent to the pantry. The walls of the Boyko's house are made of cut timbers, which are tied into a fishtail lock at the corners. The roof is gable and covered with shingles. The house is decorated with carvings based on traditional motifs: rosettes, floral and geometric ornaments. The author is I. Voloshyn. The house was recreated in the museum in 1974.

It is worth seeing in the village:

The wooden Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (1858/1845) with a bell tower (1862). The temple was built on the site of a burned church and today is a monument of Boyko wooden architecture. The three-story log church is built on a stone foundation.
It is the oldest and largest maple tree in Ukraine (over 300 years old, over 5 m in diameter and 15 m high).

Tukholka village council (03251) 3-21-22.

Mountain Search and Rescue Service of Slavske village, 10 I. Franko str. +38 (03251) 4-21-02, +38 (097) 493-44-12.

There is a secondary school in the village.

There is a legend that has long been alive among the people there.

Tukhlia was attacked by the Tatars. They burned down the village and slaughtered everyone they could find. There was a big battle with them. Then some of the Tukhlya residents stayed in the old place, and three of them left. They walked through the mountains and forests and came here. They built a hut in the forest. And when winter came, they built a hut for all three of them. And they lived for three years. They lived in the Horishne end of the village, in Khashchokh. After three years, they wanted to build a house. Yeden crossed the stream, found a flat spot, and built a house there. The other two helped him because they were very happy to share everything.

At first, they lived on what they took from their storerooms of rye and oats. And then they started farming themselves. They knew how to grind grain. They would find a large stone and use a smaller one to grind the grain into flour. They knew how to make it. But there was no clay close enough to make pottery. So they came up with this idea: they made a wooden hylitya, spread out the ohyna, baked the stone until it was red, and then threw it into that vessel of water, added flour, and then boiled it, and that's how they cooked chyre. They made wooden bowls and spoons for the chyre.

The second one was built a little higher. We started thinking about cattle. All three of us decided to go see what was happening in Tukhly. We came to the woods, and there people were still farming in their places. They asked the Tukhly people for a cow. They gave them some, and they brought them here. They grazed in the log cabin during the summer, and in the winter they cut the grass (they didn't have scythes yet) and dried it.

They built the village downwards and named it Tukholka because they came from Tukhla.

It is said that Ivan Rosiv, Maksym Shmyhelskyi, and Petro Balandovych settled in the village first.