Nature Monument “Weeping Beech”

About Weeping Beech

The weeping beech is a botanical landmark of local significance in Ukraine. Planted by the owner of the villa “Rusalka” (see in the background) Grigoriy Bilas in 1936, along with another weeping beech brought from Vienna. Grigoriy Bilas (1884-1964) was the son of the village headman of Truskavets – Ivan Bilas, who served the Truskavets community from 1863-1899. For his long and conscientious work, he received the Honorary Cross from Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph in 1894 in Lviv.

Grigoriy Bilas (son of Ivan Bilas) worked as a secretary in the Gmina (rural administration). He was a conscious Ukrainian, educated, and proficient in four languages.

From 1904-1908, he built the villa “Rusalka,” which had 18 furnished rooms.

Now the owner of the “Rusalka” villa in the fourth generation is Volodymyr Bilas.

The exotic weeping beech has become an ornament of the resort, one of the 7 wonders of Truskavets. Verses are composed about it…

Let the soul rest under the solitary beech,
Which has survived from ancient times… And wait
Let me dream under it for even a short moment,
Let me plunge headlong into the October stream.

Lead me, Autumn, to the park, where there is a ravine,
And those alleys, and paths of forgotten centuries…
Where the ancient villa “Rusalka” still awaits residents,
And the weeping beech stands lonely…

September 2023. Olga Kantseda