Attractions of Kharkiv

The Museum of Local Self-Government of the Kharkiv Region was opened in Kharkiv in 2015 on the occasion of the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the European Charter of Local Self-Government and the 150th anniversary of the introduction of Zemstvos - the first elected local self-government bodies in the Slobozhanshchyna.

The museum is located in the city center, in the premises of the Derzhprom Building (5th entrance). Is a subdivision of the Kharkiv Historical Museum is named after Mykola Sumtsov.

The museum's exposition tells about the historical past of self-government since its inception, about the spread of the regimental-hundred system, about the formation of zemstvo self-government and the introduction of the position of mayor. Original documents, reproduced clothing of officials of different eras, original weapons are presented.

Pavlivskyi Maidan emerged in 1660-1662, when a fortification (outpost) was built here, adjacent to the Kharkiv Fortress.

After some time, the center of the fortification became a large shopping area called Narodna. At the corner of the square and Universitetska Street in the second half of the 18th century, there was a post office (now on this site is a post office building), next to which a stone verst pillar with inscriptions indicating the distances from Kharkiv to Moscow and neighboring provincial cities was installed. Decrees were read near the pillar and public punishments were carried out, so the square was also called Lobna.

In the middle of the 19th century, the square was called Pavlivska in honor of the merchant Pavlov, who opened the first store with fixed prices for goods. Later, the large building of the insurance company "Russia" (1910-1915, architect Mykola Verovkin) and the City Merchant Bank (1913, architects Mykola Vasylyev and Oleksandr Rzhepishevsky) were built, on the two upper floors of which the Astoria hotel was located.

During the Second World War, the building was destroyed, but then restored in its original form.

On the night of August 27, 2022, during the Russian-Ukrainian war, the Russians launched a missile attack on Pavlivskyi Maidan in Kharkiv. The historical building of 1912 was damaged, the windows and doors of the building were blown out by the blast wave.

The current Serhiivskyi Maidan below the Universitsky Hill, along the former embankment, was formed at the beginning of the 18th century as a shopping area with benches and taverns, where auctions were held 4 times a week.

It was called the Basarna Square or the Lopansky Bazaar. In the 19th century, a wooden covered market was built at the Lopansky Bazaar. In 1835, all the houses burned down during a great fire. In the middle of the 19th century, the construction of stone commercial buildings began, in particular, Serhiivskyi row, named after the Kharkiv governor (the square was called Serhiivskyi). In 1868, stone stairs were built instead of wooden ones, which were located in the place of the current ones.

In 1875, the construction of Novo-Serhiivskyi row was completed, in which the city museum soon opened. In 1890, a two-story Mykolaivskyi row was built on the site of the burned-out Serhiivskyi row according to the project of the architect Alfred Spiegel. In 1898, stone shops were built on the banks of Lopan according to the project of the academician of architecture Oleksiy Beketov. The "Grand Hotel" was located in the southern part of the square.

In 1932, the square was renamed Proletarska. After the Second World War, the square was reconstructed. Trees have been planted along the banks of Lopan, and a square with flower beds and lawns has been laid out. The Universitsky Hill and its slopes were arranged, and new stairs were built.

In 2016, the historical name of the square was returned - Serhiivskyi Maidan.

The Kharkiv Maritime Museum illuminates the history of seafaring in models.

The exposition visually tells about how wooden ships were built and launched, how warships of the 17th century were arranged, how tools were used on an old sailing ship, how gold was extracted from sunken galleons.

The exposition presents beautifully executed models of ships created over the course of dozens of years. You can also see navigation devices, facsimile maps, engravings, documents (partly from the archives of the Royal Society of Great Britain), written by brave travelers themselves.

The Museum of History Kharkiv Metro is housed in several halls of the Kharkiv Metro Public Administration building.

On the stands of the metro museum, the history of the construction, formation and development of the enterprise is displayed, various exhibits are presented, which in one way or another belong to the long-term activity of the Kharkiv metro, and the company's awards and commemorative gifts are exhibited.

In particular, you can see models of trains that carry passengers every day, a mock-up of an electrical depot, a jackhammer with which metro builders used the first meters of the Kholodnohirsk-Zavodska Line tunnels, samples of metro workers' uniforms from different periods, a nobleman's lantern, and more.

The Museum of the History of Metrology operates at the National Scientific Center "Institute of Metrology", which dates back to the first verification booth in Ukraine for the verification and branding of trade measures and weights, which was opened in Kharkiv in 1901 by Dmitri Mendeleev.

The museum's exposition presents samples of ancient measuring instruments, including standards: a unique working mass standard - a gilded weight weighing 1 kg, which headed the verification scheme of mass measuring instruments in Ukraine from the first months of the verification booth's operation (from 1901 to 1939); a Riefler pendulum clock with an accuracy of 0.01 seconds per day, which was used in the time and frequency service from 1925 to 1941; a linear measure of length - a meter, which was used in metrological practice until 1973.

The samples of metrological equipment presented in the museum were created in different years. Since 1993, the institute has created and approved by the State Standard of Ukraine 47 state primary standards (out of 57 available in Ukraine) and 15 secondary standards. In addition to standards that exist in a single copy, the institute develops and produces measuring equipment intended for mass use.

Many of the devices presented in the museum were exhibited at domestic and international exhibitions.

The monument to Father Fedir, a character in the novel "Twelve Chairs" (1928) by Ilya Ilf and Yevhen Petrov, is installed on the 1st platform of the South Railway Station in Kharkiv.

The monument serves as an illustration of an episode of the novel in which Father Fedir writes a letter to his wife to the county town of N from the Kharkiv railway station, as well as a reminder of how Father Fedir was seen on the Donetsk railway: "He fled along the platform with a kettle of boiling water..".

Father Fedir is depicted in the image embodied by the Soviet film actor Mykhaylo Puhovkin in the screen adaptation of "12 Chairs" directed by Leonid Hayday (1971).

On the pedestal is a quote from his letter to his wife: "Kharkiv is a bustling city, the center of the Ukrainian Republic. After the province, it seems as if he has gone abroad."

The monument to Ostap Bender, Ipolyt Matviyovych Vorobyaninov and Ellochka the cannibal - cult characters of the novel "12 Chairs" by Ilya Ilf and Yevhen Petrov - was opened in Kharkiv in 2005 on City Day.

The "Great Combiner", cast in bronze, sat on a bench installed in front of the entrance to one of Kharkiv's cafes. Kisa Vorobyaninov, who was looking for treasures hidden in a furniture set together with the "great combiner", is depicted as begging for alms. Ellochka in a defiant pose seems to invite passers-by to sit on the treasured chair.

In 2024, monuments to the characters of the novel "12 Chairs" in Kharkiv were dismantled as part of decolonization.

The Church of Peter and Paul was founded in 1866 in the suburb of Kharkiv - on Zhuravlivka (now it is Taras Shevchenko Street with the surrounding area).

The stone building was laid in 1871, the construction was completed in 1875. The Church of Peter and Paul was built in the Rus-Byzantine style according to the project of architects Fedir Danilov and Vasyl Nebolsyn. The temple is single-domed, with three thrones. A women's church and parish school operated under him. Even during the times of persecution and Hitler's occupation, the church did not stop working.

By the 130th anniversary, the Peter and Paul Church was restored, and the Basil the Great Sunday School was opened, where parishioners are taught the basics of doctrine and the art of church singing.

The Museum of Photo Illusions opened in 2017 in the very center of Kharkiv.

There are 28 photo zones with different subjects for visitors. Carefully thought out locations allow you to take the most incredible photos due to the game of perception, scale and perspective.

The museum employs a photographer who can provide his services for an additional fee - shooting on professional equipment, retouching and processing the resulting images.

The Museum of Theater Puppets has been operating at the Viktor Afanasiev Kharkiv State Academic Puppet Theater since 1954. It is the oldest in Ukraine and one of the best puppet museums in the world in terms of the wealth of exhibition materials collected and preserved in its archives.

The museum occupies the entire third floor of the theater building, which is an architectural monument and was created according to the design of architect Oleksii Beketov in 1907, and in 1968 was reconstructed specifically for the puppet theater.

The Museum's collection includes over 11 thousand different exhibits that tell the story of the development of the world puppet theater and Kharkiv puppeteers in particular, the history of the art of playing dolls and people associated with this art. In three spacious exhibition halls, dolls, posters, models, souvenirs, puppet sketches, theater programs and photographs from many countries of the world are presented for viewing. In particular, the museum stores unique dolls made at the beginning of the 20th century, gifts from famous puppeteers from different countries of the world.

The first Saint Nicholas Church in the village of Zhihor (now a suburb of Kharkiv) was built in 1747 at the expense of Colonel Andriy Shcherbinin.

The church was made of wood and soon burned down. The current stone church of Nicholas the Wonderworker with one throne was started to be built in 1890 at the expense of the parishioners. A church and parish school operated at the temple. After the Bolshevik coup of 1917, the temple was closed and reopened several times.

Today, the Saint Nicholas Church has been completely restored. Inside, the walls are extremely beautifully painted. The church is functioning, and a church-parochial school has been opened again.

The first wooden church of Nicholas the Wonderworker in Hryhorivka (a suburb of Kharkiv) was built in 1765.

In 1821, according to the project of the architect Yevhen Vasylyev, on the site of the former church, a single-domed Nicholas Church with a red brick bell tower in the shape of a cross was built at the expense of Colonel Oleksandr Norov.

In 1938, during the persecution of the church by the Soviet authorities, Deacon Filipp (Ordynets) was arrested and shot. In our time, he is included among the holy new martyrs of the Slobidsky region.

From 1960 to 1989, the Saint Nicholas Church was closed. In 1989, the surviving remains of the church were handed over to the Orthodox community of the UOC of the Moscow Patriarchate.

The Church in the name of the holy prince Oleksandr Nevsky in Kharkiv was built in 1830 at the Kharkiv Psychiatric Hospital, better known as Saburova dacha.

The small church could not accommodate all the parishioners, and in 1904, 20 thousand rubles were allocated from the state treasury for the construction of a new church. The project was executed by the architect Mykhaylo Lovtsov, who himself supervised the construction. In 1907. construction, decoration and painting of the temple were completed. The icons of the one-tier carved iconostasis were painted on zinc. The Oleksandr Nevsky Church was richly decorated with stucco, which is why it was considered one of the most elegant in the city.

In 1920, the Saint Oleksandr Nevsky Church was closed by the Soviet authorities and used for various services. (club, hospital archive, agitation point, etc.). Reopened in 1990, now completely restored.

The church in honor of the holy great martyr and healer Panteleymon was founded in 1882.

Construction under the direction of the architect Fedir Danylov was carried out quickly - already in 1883 the walls, roof and bell tower were ready. The first religious services began in 1885. The temple is made in the Rus-Byzantine style.

In 1897-1818, it was reconstructed by the famous architect Mykhaylo Lovtsov, the author of the Annunciation Cathedral and Dmitrivska Church. He decorated the facade with decorative details that gave the church a festive look.

In 1930, the Saint Panteleymon Church was closed by the Soviet authorities, the tower with the dome and decorative towers were dismantled. The temple was returned to believers in 1989. Restoration work was completed in 1999.