The village of Bukovets belongs to the Volovets district and is located in a narrow intermountain hollow between the Poloninsky and Vodorazdelny ridges of the Ukrainian Carpathians. It has long been the seat of the Boyks, one of the strongest and most distinctive ethnographic groups, crystallized in the difficult conditions of survival in the mountains. The village was named after the extensive growth of beeches on the slopes, which young oaks, yews, cedars, spruces and ash trees tried but failed to overshadow.
Bukovets is a little distant from the traditional tourist routes and closed to those who rest in Truskavets and the adjacent balneological resorts, not insignificant Beskid ridges and the already mentioned Vodorazdelny ridge. But, if you are lucky enough to pass the «cordon» organized for a modest village by Volovets, Zhdaneyevo and Uzhok, you will see landscapes of pristine beauty, villagers not corrupted by tourists and a temple of amazing purity.
Bukovetsky temple is wooden — other materials were not available to local boyks, but spruces and beeches on the slopes of the Carpathians once grew in immense quantities. A small community of boyks, practically isolated from the outside world, in 1808 began the construction of their own temple on the site of an older church, built «on the bones» of an Old Slavic temple, which had been burned down by lightning.
The peculiarity of Bukovetsky temple is that it is dedicated to the Virgin Mary, or rather her introduction into the temple, unlike the bulk of churches in the Carpathian region, glorifying St. Nicholas and his works. Therefore, the local sanctuary is called Vvedenskaya Church and is the only sacral building of this type in its Volovets region.
The Boyks built the temple according to the same pattern as their houses and outbuildings. The point is not in the limited architectural thinking of this ethnos, but simply in the use of an optimal building design, developed over the years and adapted to the given relief and type of climate. The Vvedenskaya church is an elongated, three-brick structure. An original frame tower with Baroque elements, which were unknown in this village, rises above the babinets. Two log cabins have a common steep roof, the third log cabin is isolated. Externally, the Vvedenskaya church is united into a single structure by a two-tiered gallery and a perimeter canopy protecting the foundation from flooding.
The village church is made of spruce logs, which are connected by special notches. The body of the church is covered with shingles, and the tower is covered with a plowshare made of oak. The Bukovets sacral corner is complemented by a massive bell tower. It has two floors and a «flared» rain canopy that makes it look like a pruned fir tree.
Only those who have seen the best wooden churches of the Carpathians will be able to appreciate the treasure that is hidden from human eyes in the village of Bukovets. The originality of the construction is complemented by the virgin nature, not spoiled by those who turned vacation in the Carpathians into a source of profit. Chiseled mountain profiles, wild forest, a happy river and a wooden temple that seems to locals more beautiful than a crystal palace. Getting out to holidays in Pilipets, Turya Polyana or Volovets, you can visit this Miracle, as beautiful as a crocus and as unique as an Amur tiger.