Sights in Rakhiv

1. Europe's Geographical Centre

   • Rakhiv, Ukraine
   • Sights › Other

   Ukraine contends that it holds Europe's Geographical Centre, just before the village of Dilove. Ukraine is not the only country to declare itself the continent's centre: Germany, Lithuania, Poland and Slovakia have all staked rival claims.

   Furthermore, Austrian experts, quoted in the Wall Street Journal Europe in 2004, say the pillar erected by Austro-Hungarian geographers in 1887, in what is now back-country Ukraine, was never intended to mark Europe's middle; its Latin inscription of simple longitude and latitude was mistranslated. None of this has dented official Ukrainian aspirations to the honour, although some locals are more sceptical. Today, a Soviet-era spire has…

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2. Museum of Forest Ecology

   • Rakhiv, Ukraine
   • Sights › Museum

   The Museum of Forest Ecology stands on the hill behind the Carpathian Biosphere Reserve headquarters building. This old-school museum of natural history is surprisingly informative, rich and colourful as well as slightly kitsch. So, in between chuckles at the odd moth-bitten, taxidermied sheep, you’ll learn a bit from the handy Carpathian Mountains relief map, and the dioramas of forest landscapes and Hutsul festivals – even without reading the signs.

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3. Carpathian Biosphere Reserve Headquarters

   • Rakhiv, Ukraine
   • Sights › Outdoors

   Some 5km southwest of Rakhiv the highway leads to the Carpathian Biosphere Reserve headquarters, which isn’t so much of interest for itself as for what’s surrounding it. The reserve is maintained quite well.

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