Attractions of Klevan

The "Tunnel of Love" in Klevan is a pergola (a natural fence made of trees or bushes) that has grown in an unusual way over the tracks of a 4-kilometer-long railway branch that leads from the Klevan station to one of the local woodworking enterprises in the village of Orzhiv. At one time, the trees around the railway were stopped being cut down, and the thick crowns formed an improvised grotto over the tracks, along which shunting trains sometimes slowly run.

The amazing plant tunnel, which plays with colors at different times of the year, is now considered one of the most romantic places in Ukraine and one of the tourist attractions of Volyn. Thanks to many successful photos, it has become a place of mass tourist pilgrimage, attracting thousands of tourists from Ukraine and abroad. The tunnel in Klevan periodically appears in lists of the most amazing railways on the planet. It appears in many commercials and even in the feature film by Japanese director Akiyoshi Imazaki "Klevan - Tunnel of Love". This green alley also serves as a photo location for local newlyweds - visiting the "Tunnel of Love" is considered a good omen.

Over time, a full-fledged tourist infrastructure has developed around the "Tunnel of Love" with a wide range of additional services. There is an equipped area for festive events, souvenir shops, a cafe-bistro, a car park, a public restroom. There is a hotel and restaurant complex, where there is a mini-museum with railway equipment and local amber, as well as a restaurant with a specialty dish "Tunnel of Love".

The Church of the Annunciation in the early Baroque style was founded in Klevan by Yuriy Chartoriyskyi, and served as the burial place of the Chartoriyskyi princes.

During the Soviet period, the temple was closed, the building fell into serious disrepair.

Currently, the Church of the Annunciation has been returned to the Catholic community, and restoration is underway.

The well-preserved, well-fortified Klevan Castle was founded in 1475 by Prince Mykhaylo Chartoriysky on the site of an ancient Rus settlement above the Stubla River.

The castle is surrounded by powerful walls (thickness of 3.8 meters) and a defensive moat, over which a four-arch bridge is thrown. The construction was supervised by the Lviv fortification engineer Ivan Lys, the architect of the Lviv City Arsenal. Two corner towers were also preserved from the original building. In the 17th and 18th centuries, a college of Jesuits was located here. After the reconstruction carried out in 1817 by Kostyantyn Chartoryysky, a Polish gymnasium was opened in the new buildings, then a theological school.

During the Soviet rule, the Klevan Castle housed a boarding school, a mechanization school, and a NKVD post at various times, then it was converted into a treatment and labor ward for alcoholics.

Currently, the buildings are derelict, and projects for reconstruction and development of tourist infrastructure are being discussed. Klevan Castle is cared for by volunteers from the sports and patriotic organization "Shyt".

The Orthodox Church of the Nativity of Christ is located in the center of Klevan next to the castle.

It was founded in 1777 as a Greek Catholic church. The stone church of the Nativity of Christ was built at the expense of Adam Chartoryysky. It has characteristic forms of classicism, decorated with a hollow pilaster portico of the Tuscan order with a triangular pediment, finished with a semicircular attic. Planning is typical of folk architecture: cross plan, single-headed finish.

In 1844, a stone bell tower was erected next to the Church of the Nativity of Christ.

It belongs to the UOC of the Moscow Patriarchate.