The Veretsky Pass - a symbol of freedom that unites the Carpathians

For centuries the renowned Veretsky Pass has joined the Ukrainian Carpathians, Transcarpathia and the Lviv region - across the picturesque Watershed Ridge. It is also otherwise called the Ruska Vrata or Voritsky Pass. The Veretsky Pass lies on the divide between the Stryi and Latorytsia rivers, at an altitude of 841 metres above sea level: from here breathtaking mountain landscapes open up, including views of the astonishing Borzhava meadows. It was through this pass that the border between Poland and Czechoslovakia once ran. Its history - a striking one, packed with fascinating events, yet at the same time full of fear and pain.

The first battle for the Veretsky Pass

The Veretsky Pass is mentioned as far back as Nestor the Chronicler, in his account of the events of the distant year 896. Back then a camp of nomads almost half a million strong, from the Urals and the Volga region, managed to cross this pass and set off for the Tisza-Danube lowland. In 888 the Byzantine emperor Leo VI the Wise offered the Hungarians an advantageous deal: to join forces and go to battle together against the Bulgarians. In return for such help, he promised to allow the Hungarian tribes to resettle from the Urals to Dacia. A few years later, a large part of the Magyars, led by the legendary Árpád and under pressure from the Pechenegs, crossed the Carpathian Mountains and did indeed defeat the Bulgarian armies. The Magyar tribes settled in the Tisza-Danube lowland. Today those terrible battles are recalled by the burial sites in the town of Berehove.

It is this very historical fact that makes the Veretsky Pass a place of pilgrimage for tourists from Hungary, for it was through this area that the Magyars crossed into Europe in ancient times. To mark the 1100th anniversary of this historically important milestone, a commemorative monument was erected on the pass in the form of an arch of 7 blocks, symbolising the 7 Hungarian tribes that crossed the Ruthenian Gate. Under pressure from the Soviet authorities the 1896 monument was dismantled, and in the years of independent Ukraine a memorial was set up here again.

Several centuries later, battle raged here once more. In the spring of 1241, the merciless Khan Batu, together with his Tatar-Mongol army, broke through the fortifications of the Veretsky Pass and set off towards the village of Nyzhni Vorota in Transcarpathia.

One of the most painful pages in the history of Ukraine

But the most tragic events took place on the Veretsky Pass on the eve of the Second World War. In March 1939, after the fall of Carpatho-Ukraine, captured fighters of the Carpathian Sich died on the pass. Today there is a memorial to the Heroes of Carpatho-Ukraine. Today there are many mass graves here. This is one of the most painful pages in the history of Ukraine. In memory of the national heroes who gave their lives for the freedom and prosperity of the country, memorials have been erected here. In addition, you can see monuments to the heroes who fought for Ukraine’s freedom and to the liberating soldiers of 1944.

Today the Veretsky Pass is a genuine tourist attraction of Transcarpathia. The terrain has a gentle landscape on one side and steep slopes with a winding serpentine road on the other, which makes it appealing to lovers of extreme quad-bike adventures . Above all, the Veretsky Pass holds immense historical value, for it witnessed momentous battles and momentous sacrifices. Here, amid incredible scenery and mountain panoramas, you understand as nowhere else in the world just what freedom cost.

In addition, until 1980 the Stryi - Mukachevo road ran through the pass, as did one of the country’s most important transport arteries - the European-standard Kyiv-Chop motorway.

Today the M06 highway bypasses the pass: from Mukachevo or Uzhhorod you drive along it to the village of Nyzhni Vorota and take the old road up to the saddle. The town of Volovets, with its railway station, is 12 km from Nyzhni Vorota, so the pass is hard to reach without a car or a transfer. The climb is a steep switchback with a fairly poor surface. At the top, about a kilometre apart, stand the Hungarian arch of seven stone blocks and the memorial where 22 Carpathian Sich fighters were reburied.