Attractions of Odesa region

The Izmail Art Gallery presents a collection of modern Ukrainian and foreign art, an exposition of decorative and applied art, sections of Ukrainian and Western European art of the 16th-19th centuries, works of icon painting, art of the peoples of the East.

Painting, graphics, sculpture are presented. A portrait of Generalissimo Oleksandr Suvorov painted by an unknown 19th-century master, engravings with portraits of Hryhori Potomkin, Kostyantyn Vorontsov, Fedir Tolstoy, graphic sheets of itinerant artists Ivan Shyshkin, Illya Repin, and Volodymyr Makovsky are on display. The painting "Bay" by the celebrated mariner Rufin Sudkovskyi is presented.

Among the pearls of the museum collection is a vase by the famous French master Emile Halle.

The remains of the Turkish fortress of Izmail, taken in 1790 by Russian troops and Black Sea Cossacks under the command of Oleksandr Suvorov, have been preserved on the high bank of the Danube in the western part of present-day Izmail.

The fortress was mostly earthen, with brick retaining walls and three stone bastions on the Danube side. The plan to storm Izmail, approved by Suvorov, was drawn up by the commander of the Black Sea rowing flotilla, Yosyp de Rybas. He also led the largest assault column of Cossacks, attacking the fortress from the river. The battle lasted more than 16 hours. The Turks were defeated, losing 29,000 killed, while the losses of the Russians amounted to 4,000 killed. Mikhaylo Kutuzov was appointed commandant of conquered Izmail.

After the defeat of Russia in the Crimean War, under the terms of the Paris Peace Treaty, Izmail Fortress was blown up, the fortifications demolished. Now from the side of Sudnoremontnykiv Street you can see fragments of earthen ramparts and a grand defensive moat up to 11 meters deep, as well as one fragment of the retaining wall consisting of plinths. The park on the banks of the Danube preserves the remains of a moat and an embankment, the Kiliia Gate of Saint Nicholas Monastery, the Church of the Assumption (1643-1841), the Church of Saint Nicholas (1644-1852), and the Small Mosque (XVI century), which exhibits diorama "Siege of Izmail Fortress". The Eagle monument has been erected in the military cemetery.

In 1991, the Izmail Memorial Park-Museum "Fortress" was established, whose staff conducts tours of the fortress.

The administration of the park-museum and the exposition on the history of the Izmail fortress are located in the city center (51 Nezalezhnosti Avenue).

The Izmail Military History Museum is located in a mansion of the XIX century, which belonged to the mayor Ioann Abraham.

The museum's collection includes more than 30,000 exhibits: flags, military uniforms and equipment of the XVII-XX centuries, a collection of cold steel and firearms, paintings and graphics on the Russian-Turkish wars, archeology and everyday life, numismatics.

The diorama in the Small Mosque is a department of the Izmail Military History Museum.

The Greek Church of Saint John the Baptist in Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi stands on the high bank of the Dniester estuary.

The first wooden temple was founded in the XIII-XIV centuries by Greek merchants from Trebizond. In its current form, the church was rebuilt in 1478-1480, during the Moldavian period, during the reign of Stephen III the Great. The funds for the construction were collected by the Greek community of the city.

According to legend, in the 14th century, Saint Ioann Suchavskyi, a great martyr who is considered the protector of Moldova, was buried on the territory of the Greek Church. The burial place is marked by a chapel to the right of the church. Later, the relics of the saint were reburied in Suceava in the present territory of Romania.

Despite its modest size, the Church of John the Baptist looks very massive and is a rare type of religious building in the architectural heritage of Ukraine.

The Old Believer Church of John the Theologian was built in Stara Nekrasivka at the end of the 19th century.

The interior is decorated with an iconostasis made according to Old Believer canons with icons of the 17th century, brought to Stara Nekrasivka by the Don Cossacks from Nekrasivka.

The winter church and Sunday school of the Old Believers are nearby.

The Church of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian in Pokrovka is located on a high hill on the left bank of the Tylihul River.

The foundation of the church took place in 1894, and the consecration took place in 1911. The construction was carried out at the expense of General Semenov and the landowner Kondratskyi.

The temple is made in pseudo-Rus style, made of red brick, has 11 domes. In Pokrovka, there is an opinion that the Church of John the Theologian is a copy of Saint Michael's Cathedral in Vienna or Saint Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg.

During the Second World War, the Church of John the Theologian was used as an infirmary. Returned to the Orthodox community in 1989.

The Old Believer Church of the Kazan Icon of the Holy Virgin was built in Prymorske in 1903 by Old Believers-Lypovans, who form the basis of the village's population.

The church is single-domed, with an attached high bell tower. Much decorated. There is a wonderful iconostasis in the interior.

The Memorial Museum of the poet, journalist, and national hero of Bulgaria, Khrysto Botev, was opened in 2008 in the village of Zadunaivka in the Odesa region, where he taught in 1866.

The museum exposition is located in three halls. The first hall tells about the subjugation of Bulgaria by the Ottoman Empire and the resettlement of Bulgarian refugees to neighboring lands. The second hall is dedicated to the life and work of Khrysto Botev - here are presented Botev's works, newspapers in which he was published, bibliographical literature, and the poet's reading circle. The third hall tells the story of the founding of the village of Zadunaivka by Bulgarian immigrants. The museum exposition presents not only documents, books, and household items of Bulgarians, but also panels with images of contemporaries - residents of Zadunaivka.

The Khrysto Botev Museum is a branch of the Odesa Literary Museum.

The Kiliia Museum of History and Local Lore was opened in 1964. It is located in an old house built in the middle of the 19th century by a wealthy Jewish grocer, Rebbe Kahane.

The number of exhibits in the museum is 2,100. The exposition highlights such historical topics as ancient times, Greek and Byzantine colonization of the Danube region, Kiliia during the Tatar-Mongol invasion, the reign of the Moldavian princes, the Cossack era and the period of the Russo-Turkish wars, the region during the Romanian occupation, Tatarbunary period of the Second World War wars, recent history.

Excursion service for organized groups on routes through the city is carried out at pre-arranged times, including on weekends.

The Kodyma Historical and Local Lore Museum opened in 2007. It is located in the center of the city of Kodyma in the former estate of Count Rozenfeld. The mansion was built in the 19th century in the Gothic style of red brick and is an architectural monument. In the 30s of the 20th century, the building housed a school, then a kindergarten.

The nine halls of the museum include the following exhibition sections: archaeological finds in the region, features of the life and crafts of the local Cossacks and peasantry, the life of a Ukrainian peasant in the late 19th - mid-20th centuries, the interior of the Count's Hall, historical events of the early 20th century, World War II, the Soviet period of the 50s - 80s of the 20th century, an exhibition hall.

The total number of exhibits in the museum is about 2,500 units.

The Kostyantyn Paustovsky Memorial Museum is located in a building on a quiet seaside street in Odesa, right above Langheron.

The writer lived in the janitor's house of the neighboring house, which has not been preserved, from 1920 to 1922, during the Odesa period of his work.

The museum was opened in 1998 on the initiative of the public organization "Paustovsky World Society". The main exposition is dedicated to Paustovsky's book "The Time of Great Expectations" written in Odesa. It has more than 1,000 exhibits, including manuscripts, photographs, household items (beginning of the 20th century) and personal belongings of the author. In particular, the model of the janitor's house described by Paustovsky and the model of the motor ship "Kostyantyn Paustovsky" are presented.

Everyone can try to type "SOS" in Morse code using the famous telegraph key, as well as touch the hand washing machine used by Kostyantyn Heorhiyovych while fishing in the village of Sanzhiika.

The Local Lore Museum of the village of Kotlovyna is located in the school building. One of the halls is dedicated to the history of the village, the second to the history of the school, and the third to ethnography and the history of the Gagauz people.

The museum is filled with various antiquities that were once used by the villagers. In addition to ancient and medieval ceramics, stone tools of the Neolithic era, an old student desk and a pioneer furnace, photographs, here you can get acquainted with tools, household items, clothing and other artifacts of traditional local Gagauz culture, as well as with the works of art of Kotlovyna artists, among whom Petro Chekirov and Viktor Chernov are widely known.

Special cauldrons used only by the Gagauz for preparing a ritual dish - "kurban" - are located here next to children's toys, carefully carved from wood or molded from clay. Also interesting are the traditions of Gagauz winemaking, the symbol of which even appeared on the coat of arms of Kotlovyna.

During the excursion, you can clearly see how the Gagauz lived in ancient times, what their houses looked like, how women and men dressed, and learn the personal stories of some families in the village.

The palace of the Kuris family in Isaieve was built in 1905, when the former manor house turned out to be too small for the growing family (in 1903, a fifth child was born in the family).

The owner of the estate, Oleksandr Kuris, was a descendant of Volyn Governor Ivan Kuris, an associate of Oleksandr Suvorov, a Greek by nationality.

A beautiful palace in the Art Nouveau style with elements of romanticism is harmoniously connected with the surrounding landscape. The building had water heating and electrical wiring. At the beginning of the 19th century, the French artist Lucien Monod visited the Kurys for several months, who painted portraits of family members.

Since 1924, the palace housed various educational institutions: a labor school, an agronomic technical school, and now a professional agrarian lyceum.

Fragments of the interior decoration have been preserved: wooden stairs, stucco ceiling decorations, floor tiles, an original round sliding table on beautiful carved legs.

Since 1991, the Kuris Palace in Isaievo has been an architectural monument of local importance.

The ruins of the palace of lieutenant colonel Ivan Kuris in Pokrovske, a companion of Suvorov who became famous during the 2nd Turkish War, are often called "Petrivsky Castle" or "Kuris Castle".

The lieutenant colonel received the Pokrovske estate as a reward for his participation in the Black Sea campaign. He began building the palace in 1810, settling in Pokrovske after his release from the service. The shape of the building resembled a medieval castle, and elements of Gothic and Moorish architecture were used in the design.

In 1892, the descendants of Ivan Kuris reconstructed the palace, inviting the famous Odesa architect Mykola Tolvinsky. The third floor was added, a wide terrace and majestic mirror stairs, new towers, balconies and minarets appeared.

After the Bolshevik coup, the Kuris manor was occupied by an agricultural school, and during the Second World War by the Romanian commandant's office.

After the fire in 1990, the palace was not restored, but the ruins still impress with their grandeur. An English-style park with canals and a pond has also been preserved. Currently, "Kuris Palace" is located on the territory of Tylihul Agrarian Vocational College.

In 2020, the Kuris Palace-Manor was recognized as a monument of cultural heritage of Ukraine.

The Odesa Municipal Apartment Museum of Leonid Utosov opened in Odesa in 2015 in the house of the singer and actor's childhood and youth.

The museum's exposition is dedicated to the life and work of Leonid Utosov, and presents the artist's personal belongings, as well as many archival documents and photographs. Most of the exhibits were transferred to the museum from the private collection of Eduard Amchyslavsky. A significant part of the singer's archive was preserved by his niece Maya Molodetska, who was also one of the initiators of the opening of the museum.