This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Synevyr Territorial Community
Zakarpattia
Population:
The Synevyr community is located on the territory of Khust district, Zakarpattia region.
The total area of the territory is 254.5 km2. The population of the community is 6,670 people.
Women: 3,005.
Men: 3,665.
The community includes 6 population centers and has its administrative center in the village of Synevyr.
History
The first written mention of the village of Synevyr dates back to the late 16th – early 17th centuries. A village, which was called Zinever is 1604, was located in the upper reaches of the highland River Talabory and surrounded by Carpathian forests.
The first mention of the village of Synevyrska Poliana can be found in written sources from 1715.
The peasants here engaged in felling wood and rafting it to Solotvyno along the stormy Tereblia River. Wood was felled with the help of axes, hand saws, and drills. The felled trees were transported in one pile by oxen. After that, the bark was removed from the trees, the trees were kept for a year, and only then were floated down the river.
Scattered small huts of loggers along the banks of the river reminded of the poor life of the inhabitants.
In the second half of the 19th century, logging in the village gained even greater scope. More than half of the villagers were employed in forestry.
In 1905, Italian masters began the construction of the Greek Catholic Church on the site of the old wooden church.
There are several legends about the village of Synevyr which tell how exactly the name of the village came about. But the most plausible version is that the name of the village was formed from two words: Syniy (blue) and vyr (whirlpool). If you look at the village from the plain, you can see a beautiful blue whirlpool, a blue valley below. This blue color is given to the village by the mountains covered with coniferous forests, many mountain streams and the blue-blue Carpathian sky.
For many centuries, the territory of the community was part of various states: the Roman Empire, the Galicia-Volyn Principality, the Austrian state, Austria-Hungary, the Czechoslovak Republic, etc.
But free-spirited, unconquered, independent Ukrainians have always lived here.
Economy and Welfare
Tourism is the main economic branch of the community.
The territory of the community belongs to the nature reserve fund of Ukraine. The Synevyr National Nature Park is 42,704 hectares, and the area of land and forest plots in permanent use is 34,614.7 hectares.
A rehabilitation center for brown bears and birds of prey, a nursery for the study of rare flora of the Ukrainian Carpathians, and a fish nursery for salmon species were created here. And the primeval forests of the park belong to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
The community is home to one of the seven wonders of Ukraine, the hallmark of the Ukrainian Carpathians – Lake Synevyr.
The highest lake in Ukraine was formed 10,000 years ago as a result of a powerful landslide and is located at an altitude of 989 meters above sea level.
The average area of a water pond is up to 5 hectares. In places, the greatest depths of Synevyr reach up to 22 m. The water is weakly mineralized, clean and transparent. However, swimming in the mountain lake is prohibited, moreover, the maximum water temperature is only 13°С. There are three types of trout here – lake, rainbow and brook trout.
The scenery around the water mirror is extremely picturesque and majestic. Steep slopes covered with slender spruces, the age of which reaches 140-160 years, descend directly to the water surface. In the middle of the lake, like the pupil of a blue eye, there is a small island with an area of only a few meters. Hence the popular name of Synevir – Sea Eye.
The geological factors of the formation of the lake compete with numerous legends based on love. They are extremely popular among tourists. According to one such legend, the young beauty Syn fell in love with the shepherd Vyr. Their love was so deep and sincere that they decided to connect their lives forever. However, Syn’s father, a rich and influential count, having learned about their feelings, ordered the shepherd Vyr to be killed. Syn wept so bitterly in her grief that a lake formed from her tears, in the center of which is an island where Vyr lies.
As a sign of this legend, the installation of a sculpture symbolizing a tragic love story was completed on the shore of Lake Synevyr in August 1984.
A sculptural composition carved from mahogany is 13 meters high and weighs about 30 tons. Reflecting in the water, it is perceived mysteriously, as a wonderful fairy tale about immortal love.
Lake Synevyr is a must-visit in the Ukrainian Carpathians, which is visited by 200,000 tourists every year.
In addition, the community has about 60 natural, cultural, educational and historical tourist objects.
Most of the residents are engaged in the hotel business because hundreds of thousands of tourists come here every year. There are up to 100 accommodation facilities here, most of them are green tourism rural estates.
Delicious dishes of local cuisine can be tasted in 14 huts and restaurants.
With the support of “U-LEAD with Europe”, an Entrepreneurship Support Center was established here in 2021, where any resident of the community can apply for advice, promotional assistance, support in finding investors and support during cooperation with them.
Community and War
The Synevyr community is located in the westernmost region of Ukraine. In the first days of the war, the community began to accept temporarily displaced persons from the zone of active hostilities.
Due to the fact that the community has a tourist focus, there were more than 800 places where displaced persons could stay. In the first months of the war, 1,000 people lived on the territory of the community at the same time, which was 20% of all residents of the community.
In the spring of 2022, local residents organized themselves and started making homemade preserves and goodies for the military and residents of the frontline areas. Free food for temporarily displaced persons was also organized in the canteen of the Synevyr Lyceum in the first months of the war.
The UN World Food Program and the Red Cross provided material and monetary assistance to the temporarily displaced persons.
For the majority of people who were forced to leave their homes due to military aggression, the Synevyr community became a temporary shelter and a transit stop. Some of the IDPs returned to their native homes after de-occupation, some went abroad or moved to urban population centers.
On the territory of the community, Veterans of Synevyr NGO was created and is actively working. Members of the NGO and volunteers actively help the Armed Forces – they buy cars, medical and tactical equipment.
Together with Czech partners, Člověk v tísni (“Man in Need”) organization, preschool education institution No. 2 was overhauled and temporary accommodation rooms for 32 temporarily displaced persons were arranged in the village of Synevyr.
People of the Community
The Synevyr community is led by Ivan Chup – an effective manager who works on the development of sustainable tourism in the community and supports the initiatives of local entrepreneurs
In recent years, major repairs have been made here to communal facilities, schools, sports complexes, etc.
The Synevyr community is a mountain village community that is trying to attract state and international aid to develop the village according to the principles of sustainability and sets a positive example.
A traditional event in the community is the festival “Leading sheep to the pasture”. This is the profession of the ancestors, which is preserved even in our time. Here, they strive for the community to develop its eco-brand and popularize its heritage.
That’s why they created a local trade fair of natural products, crafts and ecotourism – SynevyrECO.
Each component of the products offered for sale is grown on the territory of the Synevyr National Nature Park. The “SynevyrECO” brand unites enterprises and residents of the community that manufacture natural products, thus popularizing traditions and crafts.
The issue of developing youth potential is acute in the community. Therefore, over the past few years, a modern playground, a youth center, and a music school have been restored here.
Young people are involved in the development of the community though a project competition. The most promising projects are supported by the head of the community with grants.
Development Strategy
The development strategy for the period until 2027 and the implementation plan for 2023-2025 have been approved in the community.
Residents of the Synevyr community position themselves as an ECO-style community – a territory combining tradition, innovation and a clean environment.
The ecologically clean territory is business-friendly and comfortable for living and recreation – a community of possibilities and a key tourist destination in the center of the Ukrainian Carpathians.
It has the following strategic goals:
- Competitive economy
- Development of human capital
- Nature protection and innovative nature management.
- Sustainable tourism and creative industries.
Also, active residents of the community developed the concept of digitalization in the field of tourism. After all, there is a lack of a single information resource that would include all data on tourist facilities, sights and services, which limits tourists in the real assessment of recreation opportunities. This problem is aggravated by the uncoordinated cooperation of hotel owners, restaurants and providers of additional services. Tourists spend too much time and money planning and organizing vacations, given the lack of convenient tools for this. Therefore, the idea arose to create a tourist web resource with a travel planning service.
The community actively participates in international projects and is open to cooperation with European partners.
List of Sources
- Community website
- Community Facebook page
- SynevyrEco
- varosh.com.ua