Religious tourism in Ukraine: status and problems of development

Размещено на http://www.allbest.ru/

Размещено на http://www.allbest.ru/

Religious tourism in Ukraine: status and problems of development

Dotsenko A.I., Open International University of Human Development "Ukraine"

Borysova O.V., Kyiv National University of Technology and Design

Hryniuk D.Yu., Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv

Introduction

An integral component of the development of the modern tourism industry is religious tourism, which is designed to educate the population to respect the traditions and spiritual life of various peoples. Increased public attention to this type of tourism can be explained by the long-term dominance in society of atheistic ideas and ideological prescriptions in the assessment of religious phenomena, anti-religious propaganda and violation of the constitutional principle of freedom of conscience.

The religious culture of Ukrainians was formed over many centuries. The increased interest in religion and the church reflects our nation's deep need for self-determination, therefore, for the young Ukrainian state, the problems of preserving and using historical traditions are among the most relevant, which justifies the place of religious tourism at the level of a socially important component of the ideology of state formation and national revival, making it an important segment in the system of specialized tourism along with such types as medical and recreational, business, ethnographic, etc.

Ukraine is a multi-ethnic and multi-confessional country, whose consistent and purposeful state and church policy complies with international law, protects freedom of conscience, religious freedom and the rights of all citizens. This creates favorable conditions and opportunities for the development of both domestic and international religious tourism and pilgrimage.

Presenting main material

During the years of Independence, Ukrainian society made a colossal civilizational breakthrough from atheism and the prohibition of religion, from the closing and destruction of churches, to democracy and freedom of religion. To ensure this Constitutional right, a huge number of churches were revived and rebuilt in Ukraine, only in 1996 there were about 12 thousand of them. In recent years, there has been an increase in the attention of Ukrainian scientists to conducting scientific research in the religious field. It should be noted the activity of Kyiv and Lviv scientists-geographers in the geographical study of religions, which gives grounds for asserting that now a new branch of science has been formed in social geography -- the geography of tourism. However, geographers have not paid due attention to the study of religious tourism as such. Only one of its types was studied - pilgrimage (Lyubitseva O.), which concerns only a small network of religious buildings. Studies of religious tourism in Ukraine are relevant, because they have to justify the problems that slow down the pace of its development and determine ways to solve them.

The purpose of the article is to analyze the state of religious tourism in Ukraine as one of the promising types of domestic tourism, which requires new approaches to its study, increased attention to the development of some theoretical and methodological issues. Focusing attention on the subject of religious tourism -- the study and popularization of works of art and temple architecture, which for centuries shaped the worldview of Ukrainians and hardened the nation, is unique and represented in various directions.

Analysis of research and publications

Despite the relevance of the problems of the development of religious tourism in Ukraine, the current state of its development is extremely low. A review of the publications shows that only certain aspects of religious tourism were violated by Ukrainian scientists. So Kovalchuk А. revealed some methodological issues, in particular the relationship between the concepts of "pilgrimage" and "religious tourism". Lyubitseva O. and Romanchuk S. outlined the main directions of the development of religious tourism in Ukraine for the near future. A new direction of religious tourism research was proposed by L. Shilova -- the influence of religious tourism on improving the worldview and spirituality of secondary school students. The current state and prospects for the development of religious tourism in the Carpathian region of Ukraine was summarized by scientist N. Pankiv. The peculiarities of pilgrimage and religious tourism as a component of the tourism industry of Ukraine at the current stage are revealed in the works of A. Nagirnyak.

According to the Law of Ukraine "On Tourism" adopted by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine with additions in 2003, the development of 17 types of tourism, among which is religious, is officially recognized. This is a new promising type of tourism that began to develop in Ukraine only after independence. In the process of revival of closed and destroyed temples, construction of new ones took place intensively, so now a powerful material base for the development of religious tourism has been created in our country. However, this is not enough for religious tourism to start developing at a noticeable pace.

Religious tourism as a young independent science is formed in the modern period mainly on the basis of applied research. Geographers, local historians and religious scholars have prepared and published descriptions of famous Christian religious buildings in all regions of Ukraine. Scientists have not yet given reasonable answers to these urgent and complex questions. The reasons for this are that the theoretical part of the science of "religious tourism" is insufficiently developed due to the scientists' ignorance of the development of the theoretical and methodological foundations of the science. Due to the lack of theory, there is a difference of opinion on fundamental issues in religious tourism.

An important part of the modern tourism industry is religious tourism, which is one of the oldest types of tourism. Its origins go back to the time of the formation of the main world religions. Religious tourism (sacred tourism, pilgrimage tourism, esoteric tourism) is a type of tourism related to the provision of services and meeting the needs of tourists who go to holy places and religious centers that are outside their usual environment. Religious tourism is divided into pilgrimage tourism - it is a set of trips by representatives of various faiths with pilgrimage purposes; esoteric - its purpose is to expand the traditional religious worldview; religious tourism of an excursion-cognitive orientation - visiting places related to the history of religions; sacred - a variety where a tourist, while visiting certain places, creates, restores or emphasizes a connection with an imaginary otherworld. Sacred in a broad sense is everything related to the Divine, religious, heavenly, irrational, mystical.

We consider it quite normal when, in the process of formation of any new science, priority development takes a certain direction, and the rest, due to one reason or another, do not develop. Pilgrimage is more researched in religious tourism. Therefore, it is important to clarify some methodological issues: what is the essence of religious tourism and pilgrimage and what are the relationships between them?

Among Ukrainian scientists, there are different opinions regarding the interpretation of these concepts. A. Kovalchuk and P. Yarotsky believe that the concepts of religious tourism and pilgrimage are identical [3,5, 7]. Most authors believe that the commonality between these close but fundamentally different social processes is imaginary. Believers and non-believers pilgrims come to holy places, religious centers of world or national importance with one goal - to take part in the divine service and pray for forgiveness of sins. Pilgrims pay attention to temples not as masterpieces of historical, architectural, or artistic significance, but as places for prayer, which has nothing to do with classic tourist activities. In the modern period, a pilgrimage tradition was formed in the world and the pilgrimage movement, which is also observed in Ukraine, gained significant momentum.

There is a point of view held by O. Lyubitseva and S. Romanchuk. They believe that pilgrimage and religious tourism are different types of tourism. Sacred objects and infrastructure are common to them, and the motivation and purpose of the trip are different [4,5]. According to the authors, pilgrimage only partially overlaps the functions of tourist activity.

The Law of Ukraine "On Tourism" officially defines the concept of tourism: "Tourism is a temporary departure of a person from a place of permanent residence for recreational, educational, professional, business or other purposes without performing paid activities in the city of residence" [1]. Tourism performs the following functions: recreational, cultural, economic, social, cognitive and educational. Each type of tourism has its own characteristics of performing these functions. Cognitive and cultural functions are the main ones in religious tourism. Both believers and atheists, both adults and children can participate in a religious-tourist trip. The main purpose of the trip is to get acquainted with the cult buildings, which are outstanding monuments of cult architecture.

Traveling around the world, Ukrainian tourists willingly get acquainted not only with the holy places of Israel, associated with the birth of Christianity, but also with the religious buildings of other world religions (Islam and Buddhism) and national religions (Judaism, Shintoism, Hinduism), namely mosques, pagodas, temples etc. As a rule, local guides are religious people who can easily tell tourists about the basics of their religion, religious holidays, holy places, etc.

In Ukraine, the level of development of religious tourism is low. Tourists visit only five Lavras and a certain number of famous cathedrals and monasteries included in tourist routes. At the same time, Ukraine has a huge network of Christian religious buildings, which represent a powerful potential for the development of religious tourism in our country.

In order to accelerate the pace of development of religious tourism in Ukraine, it is necessary to solve the following urgent problems:

1. To create a demand for religious-tourist tours for those who seek to deepen their knowledge in the field of history, culture, spiritual and religious life, everyday life, traditions and rituals of the Ukrainian people. The demand for religious and tourist trips is formed by promoting unique monuments of culture, architecture and painting of national importance, as an integral part of the rich Ukrainian culture.

2. Popularization of the cathedrals of monasteries and churches of Ukraine, which are recognized by experts as monuments of cult architecture of world, national, or local significance. For this, it is necessary to actively involve the mass media, publish popular brochures, prospectuses and booklets dedicated to the little-known monuments of iconic architecture of the region, district, city or village. An example of such a little-known masterpiece is the recently renovated, brick Church of St. Nicholas in the village of Vepryk (Myrhorod district, Poltava region), which pleasantly impresses believers from other villages, districts and even regions with its unusual beauty and unique architecture (1823). Under the walls of the church is a mass grave of Swedish soldiers who died during the Northern War during the defense of Vepryk in 1708-1709. In 1963, the Church of St. Nicholas was taken under the protection of the state as an architectural monument. [2, 5].

Among the pearls of Ukrainian national architecture, a special group consists of church buildings of the beginning of the 20th century, which reflect searches in the architecture of the Ukrainian national style. On the outskirts of Hadiach (Myrhorod District), similar examples are the brick church buildings in honor of the Holy Intercession in the villages of Plishyvets and Rymarivka. The village of Plishyvets is a small settlement on the right bank of the Psel River, which arose at the end of the 16th century. From 1760, a wooden, three-headed church on a stone foundation functioned in it, which served the village for more than 100 years. At the beginning of the 20th century local residents appealed for a new church to their countryman - an outstanding church figure, the first Metropolitan of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, Parfentius Levytskyi. His father was a priest in his native village for 30 years. During 1902-1906, on the initiative of P. Levytskyi, a luxurious nine-bath brick temple was built in Plishyvets. [2, 7, 9].

3. An urgent and complex scientific and technical problem is the assessment of the architectural value of religious buildings in Ukraine and the determination of their protection categories. In the Kyiv region, for example, such work is carried out by the Regional Center for the Protection and Scientific Research of Cultural Heritage Monuments. Specialist architects examined the cathedrals, monasteries and churches of the Kyiv region, determined their technical condition and architectural value. Temples, which are recognized as architectural monuments, are included in the state register, and passports are issued for them. According to the data of the mentioned center, as of January 1, 2014. in the Kyiv region, there are 179 Christian churches, of which 60, or 33.5%, are designated monuments of religious architecture, including 53% designated as monuments of national importance, the rest of the temples are local. The authors analyzed the temples of the Kyiv region, which are monuments of cult architecture of national importance, and proposed 3 routes of religious tourism in the Kyiv region [3, 4, 8]. The problem of defining temples as monuments of cult architecture is relevant for all regions of Ukraine.

4. In our opinion, it is not entirely correct to consider temples only as monuments of cult architecture. Cultural monuments are important sources of information about the spiritual life of the people, its history, culture and art. A large number of monuments of fine art are concentrated in the temples (icons, table paintings, panels, frescoes, mosaics, iconostasis, sculptures, etc.). Therefore, their artistic assessment is an important problem. Some cathedrals and churches are not architectural monuments, but they contain masterpieces of fine art. For example, in the Church of the Intercession of the village of Parkhomivka, in the Kyiv region, a unique mosaic by the outstanding artist Nicholas Roerich has been preserved, which attracts tourists.

It was in the cult buildings that man built for centuries that he embodied his artistic ideals, worldview concepts and the highest engineering achievements. This was the mission of the churches of the former hundred-year-old town of Vepryk of the Hadiach regiment, and now of the large picturesque village of Vepryk (Myrhorod district of the Poltava region) - the Church of the Dormition and the Church of St. Nicholas.

5. The problem of strengthening the attention of Ukrainian scientists to the comprehensive study of religious monuments, the influence of religious tourism on enriching the spiritual life of Ukrainians and forming them as a spiritually rich and invincible nation is urgent. An important direction of scientific activity is the preparation of popular scientific local history essays, brochures, prospectuses, guidebooks on all temples -- monuments of cult architecture and art in the region of Ukraine.

6. Popularization of cult monuments by means of mass information, in particular radio, television, cinema, the Internet. The showing of high-quality videos, TV programs and films will help ordinary Ukrainians choose the route of a religious and touristic trip to Ukraine.

7. Development of special religious-tourist routes by tourism specialists who have certain knowledge in the field of religion, art and architecture. For example, during the development of religious-tourist routes in the Carpathian and Polisia regions of Ukraine, special attention should be paid to wooden churches, which are unique works of sacred construction. Ukrainian wooden churches are sights that have no analogues in the world. It is no coincidence that UNESCO in 2013 included 8 of the most valuable Ukrainian wooden churches in the list of world cultural heritage. These churches must be included in the religious-tourist routes in the Carpathians, Volhynia and Dnieper.

8. One of the important ones is the personnel problem, the training of highly professional tour guides who can tell tourists about the architecture and artistic value of cult monuments at a sufficiently scientific level. Numerous Ukrainian institutions of higher education train specialists in the specialties of "tourism", "tourist business", "international tourism". Tour guides or leaders of religious-tourist groups should be trained according to a special program, which should include special courses on the basics of religious studies, tourist local history, sacred architecture, religious painting, philosophy of religion, and religious cultural studies.

Conclusions

religious tourism

The analysis of the development and current state of religious tourism in Ukraine leads to the following conclusions:

* Religious tourism is recognized by the current national legislation as one of the 17 types of tourism, which began to develop only after Independence of Ukraine;

* For the development of this type of tourism, a powerful resource base has been created in the form of a wide network of Christian religious buildings, which are religious landmarks;

* Pilgrimage and religious tourism are important components of the tourism industry in Ukraine.

* There are clear differences between pilgrimage and religious tourism, however, there is no need to draw sharp lines. As a rule, religious tourism and pilgrimage have common objects of visit and often take place at the same time. They differ only in the purpose and motivation pursued during the travels.

* The development of religious tourism is restrained by a number of problems mentioned in the article, ways to solve them are proposed;

* It has been proven that religious tourism is promising, safe and attractive for development at the domestic and international levels.

References

1. Про туризм. Закон України. Відомості Верховної Ради України, 1995, №31

2. Борисова О.В. Перспективи розвитку релігійного туризму на Гадяччині. Фізичне виховання, спорт і туристсько-краєзнавча робота в закладах освіти. Переяслав- Хмельницький, 2015, С. 396-404.

3. Доценко А.І. Пам'ятки культової архітектури Київщини та їх туристичне значення. Освітньо-виховні та героїчні традиції українського козацтва в цивілізаційному просторі Європи. К.: Університет «Україна», 2020.

4. Любіцева О.О., Романчук С.П. Паломництво та релігійний туризм. Навч. Посібник. - К.: Альтерпрес, 2011. - 416 с.

5. Релігійний туризм. Термінологічний словник-довідник. Упорядник Т. Божук. Львів, 2010. - 252 с.

6. Hryniuk D.Iu., Stepanets I.O., Borysova O.V. Turystychne kraieznavstvo: Hadiach ta yoho okolytsi. Navchalnyi posibnyk. KNU imeni Tarasa Shevchenka. 2022. s. 123 https://geo.knu.ua/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/posibnyk-turystychne- krayeznavstvo-gadyach-ta-jogo-okolyczi-2022.pdf.

7. Borysova Oksana (2022) Global Trends in Tourism and Imperatives of the Circular Economy in the Context of Sustainable Environmental Development of States. Oksana Borysova, Oleg Gryniuk, Tetiana Mykhailenko, Tetiana Shparaha, Tetiana Hryniuk. Review of Economics and Finance, 2022, 20, 196-202 DOI: https://doi.org/10.55365/1923.x2022.20.23

https://refpress.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Borysova_ REF.pdf

8. Smyrnov, I., Hryniuk, D., Tiunov, V. & Stepanets, I. (2022). The phenomenon of digitalization and practical experience in preserving the cultural heritage of Ukraine during the enemy invasion. Modern! aspekty vedy: XXII. Dil mezinarodni kolektivni monografie / Mezinarodni Ekonomicky Institut s.r.o.. Ceska republika: Mezinarodni Ekonomicky Institut s.r.o.,527-540. http://perspectives.pp.ua/public/site/mono/mono-22.pdf

9. Hryniuk D. Yu., Hryniuk T. A. (2020) Economic and geographical aspects of the study of the competitiveness of the region. Economic Development: Global Trends and National Peculiarities. Collective monograph. Kielce, Poland: “Publishing House “Baltija Publishing”, 2020. Vol 2. P. 302-318. ISBN 9789934-588-61-7. DOI: 10.30525/978-9934-588-61-7-21.

URL:http://baltijapublishing.lv/omp/index.php/bp/catalog/book/59

Размещено на Allbest.ru