Rykhly

The Saint Nicholas Desert Rykhly Monastery was founded in 1666 by Chernihiv colonel Vasyl Mnogogrishny.

In 1757, a small Nicholas Church was built, and in 1754-1760, the five-bay Saint Nicolas Cathedral. In 1767, at the expense of Hetman Ivan Samoylovych, a belfry was built with the over-gate church of John the Baptist. There was also a cave complex that has partially survived to this day. In 1749, the Okhtyrka colonel Fedir Kachanivsky presented the monastery with a unique guardian ark, which was on the main throne of the Rykhly Monastery until 1922, and then was transferred to the Chernihiv State Museum.

By the end of the Soviet period, only the ruins of the living room, cells and monastery walls remained from the monastery complex. In 2006, the monastery again acquired the status of a monastery of the UOC of the Moscow Patriarchate, restoration works are being carried out.

A centuries-old monastery oak in the village of Rykhly, a botanical landmark of nature of local importance, is called "King Oak". Its age is estimated at 800 years.

According to legend, during the Northern War with Sweden (1700-1721), the scouts of Peter I watched the maneuvers of the troops of the Swedish king Charles XII from the top of this huge tree, which towers over the entire forest massif.

The trunk of the monastery oak reaches 1.8 meters in diameter and 24 meters in height. In 2010, at the "National Tree of Ukraine" competition, the Rykhly "King Oak" took 3rd place in the "Aesthetically valuable trees" nomination.

Another long-lived oak tree with a huge hollow in its trunk grows nearby.

The old spruce alley, more than 100 years old, is a protected object (botanical monument of nature of local importance).

Today, there are 79 thirty-meter trees that surround the road to the monastery caves on both sides.