The Holy Assumption Church in the village of Dorohobuzh near Hoshcha is the oldest surviving structure in Rivne Oblast and an architectural monument of national significance. Within its walls, masonry made of ancient Rus' plinth bricks, likely from the 11th century, is still visible. Today's Dorohobuzh is a quiet village by the Horyn River, but a thousand years ago it was the capital of a specific principality.
Princely Dorohobuzh
Dorohobuzh is one of the oldest towns in Volhynia. The chronicle mentions it for the first time under the year 1084, when Prince Vsevolod gave the town to Davyd Ihorovych. Thus began the history of the Principality of Dorohobuzh, which fell into decline in the 12th century, and the princes moved to Peresopnytsia. Around the same time, a monastery and a brick church were probably founded here on the site of the modern one.
In the 19th century, researcher Orest Fotynskyi found plinth brick masonry in the church walls, and in the 1980s an inspection confirmed this. Most likely, the temple was destroyed in 1241, when the troops of Batu Khan swept through Volhynia. In 1230, Dorohobuzh passed to the Principality of Lutsk, and with the fall of the Halych-Volhynia state, it became a village of the Ostrogski princes.
Castle and Monastery of the Ostrogskis
On December 20, 1514, King Sigismund I granted Prince Konstanty Ostrogski a privilege to build a castle in Dorohobuzh and grant it town rights—this was gratitude for the victory at the Battle of Orsha. The privilege also mentioned the Monastery of the Most Holy Mother of God. The monastery buildings adjoined the new Assumption Church, and sections of the ancient plinth bricks have survived in almost all of its walls. In the 16th century, the monastery was a prominent place: services were held here, which townspeople from Rivne traveled to attend, and the nobility agreed here on the peaceful settlement of disputes.
Icon of Hodegetria
The most valuable shrine of the church is the icon of the Mother of God Hodegetria. In 1984, it was sent for restoration to Lviv, where it was dated to the 13th to early 14th century. Now it is kept in the Rivne Regional Museum of Local Lore as one of the oldest surviving icons of Ukraine.
How to get there
Dorohobuzh is in Rivne Raion, near Hoshcha, about 40 minutes from Rivne. The trip is easy to combine with Hoshcha and Ostroh.
