Attractions of Zaporizhzhia region

The municipal institution "Balky Historical and Local Lore Museum" of the Mala Bilozerka village council of the Zaporizhzhia region has been operating since 1970.

The museum fund has more than 10 thousand exhibits. The archeological exposition presents some of the treasures of the Haymanova Mohyla mound, including amphorae and a copper cauldron.

The ethnographic exposition "Ukrainian Room" recreates a fragment of the interior of a village house with a stove, household items, embroidered clothes, towels, a samovar.

The Hall of Fame tells about the events of the Ukrainian Revolution and the Second World War.

The Berdiansk Art Museum was founded in 1930 on the initiative of painter and graphic artist, doctor of art history and professor, collector Isaac Brodsky.

The exposition was based on his personal collection of paintings, including paintings by Illya Repin, Kostyantyn Korovin, Mykhaylo Vrubel, Mykola Rerikh, Isaak Levitan, Kostyantyn Makovsky, Valentyn Syerov, Oleksandr Benua, Mark Shahal, and others, as well as works by Brodsky himself.

Currently, the museum fund consists of 4.5 thousand works of painting, sculpture, graphics and applied art. In particular, the museum presents Ivan Ayvazovsky's painting "Storm at Sea" (1896).

The Museum of the History of the City is the youngest of Berdiansk's museums. It was opened in 2005 for City Day.

The exhibition, formed on the basis of part of the collection of the local lore museum, highlights the history of Berdiansk from the time of its foundation at the beginning of the 19th century to the present day.

In particular, collections of samovars and irons of the 19th and 20th centuries are presented.

DniproHPP is a unique hydroelectric facility, the first hydroelectric power station in the USSR and the largest in Europe at that time.

The construction was led by academician Oleksandr Vinter with the assistance of American consulting engineers - Frank Feifer, Wilhelm Maffei, Friedrich Vinter, Georg Binder and "General Electric" engineers Charles John Thomson and Hugh Cooper. As a result of the construction of the dam, the Dnipro rapids were flooded, which ensured navigation along the entire course of the Dnipro. Thanks to the construction of the station, the rapid economic development of the city began.

Next to the building of the HPP directorate is the massive building of the DniproHPP museum. Currently, two halls with expositions on the construction, restoration and construction of the second stage of the hydroelectric power station are available. During the tour, you can see the layout of the station, operating turbines in the engine room.

In the south-eastern part of the island of Khortytsia, in the area of Plavni, there is a folklore and ethnographic equestrian theater "Zaporizhzhia Cossacks", which carefully preserves ancient Cossack traditions.

At the request of large tourist groups, equestrian performances and folklore performances are held here with the performance of folk ensembles and demonstrations of traditional Cossack crafts (the date and time of the next performance should be ascertained in advance by phone). After the performance, you can ride horses, and also buy souvenirs, made in front of your eyes by a blacksmith and a potter.

On the territory there is a cafe "Cossack Zastava" (traditional Ukrainian cuisine) with a banquet hall, two huts and summer canopies. A Cossack seagull and a brigantine from 1736-1739, which were raised from the bottom of the Dnipro in 1999-2007, are stored nearby in the hangar, with which archaeologists and restorers are working.

The historical and cultural complex "Zaporozhian Sich" on the island Khortytsia in Zaporizhzhia reproduces a generalized image of all eight Sich, which existed in the XVI-XVIII centuries on the banks of the Dnipro.

Sich is a fortified military town surrounded by a fence, which served as a military and political center of the Zaporozhian Cossacks - the capital of the Liberties of the Zaporozhian Lowland Army, ie free Cossack lands.

The island of Khortytsia at that time was a strategic point on the way of Tatar raids on Ukrainian lands. At the same time, the political influence of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Moscow Principality, which controlled other Ukrainian lands, did not extend to these territories.

Khortytsia was associated with the activities of the first organizer of the Zaporozhian Army Ostap Dashkevych and the founder of the first Sich Dmytro (Bayda) Vyshnevetsky, who in 1553 built a Cossack castle on the island of Mala Khortytsia (now Bayda Island). All subsequent Sichs were located below the Dnipro, but were formed on common principles.

A reduced copy of the Cossack fortress is surrounded by a moat, an embankment and a fence made of logs with several defensive towers. The interior space consists of two parts - the Small Kosh (trade and craft suburb) and the Large Kosh (Cossack garrison). The main building of the Sich is the current Church of the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin on the central square. There are Cossack huts, a smithy, a pottery, an inn and a Greek house where ambassadors were received.

The expositions in the premises tell about the functioning of the Sich governing bodies (the House of the Kosh Ataman, the Military Chancellery), the work of the Pushkarnia (arsenal), and the traditional crafts of the Cossacks. The exhibition "Cossack Mamay and the Cradle" is dedicated to the image of the legendary Zaporozhian warrior-characterist.

The Cossack Battle Theater "Sich Cossacks" is based in the "Zaporozhian Sich", which regularly holds demonstrations of Cossack martial arts and master classes on the possession of Cossack weapons.

The museum complex of the National Reserve "Khortytsia" is located in the northern part of the island of Khortytsia, opposite the Dniprohes dam.

The Museum of the History of Zaporizhzhia Cossacks was opened in Zaporizhzhia in 1983. The exhibition highlights the history of the Cossack region from the earliest times to the present day.

Since 2016, the museum has been under reconstruction. After the opening, it will have a modern exposition, in which the dioramas "The Battle of Svyatoslav with the Pechenegs" and "The Council on Sich" will be presented.

The museum building with an inner courtyard is part of a complex of observation decks that offer a wonderful panorama of the Dnipro, rocky rapids and hydroelectric power station. Museum Square is used as the main venue for official events.

Next to the museum is the 14-meter Mound of Unity of Ukraine, on top of which in 2021 a 7-meter-high metal sculpture "Circle of Unity" will be installed.

Along the coast from the museum is the "Taras Trail", dedicated to the stay of the young Taras Shevchenko in Khortytsia in the summer of 1843. It is accompanied by excerpts from Kobzar's writings, which mention Khortytsia, the rapids of the Dnieper, the Great Zaporozhzhian Meadow, and the zh Cossacks.

The Holy Intercession Cathedral is the main Orthodox shrine of Zaporizhzhia. The cathedral was rebuilt on the site of the five-headed stone Pokrovsky temple destroyed by the Bolsheviks (the Komsomolsky recreation park was laid on its site).

The exterior and magnificent interiors of the cathedral are reproduced from old photographs.

The residential building, built in 1896 by the German Mennonite Arnold Peters in Ruchaivka, was transformed by his descendant Victor Dick into a museum of German colonists.

The original layout, interior, and furniture have been preserved in the house. Various tools and household items of German settlers are collected here. Of particular interest is the machine for cleaning corn cobs, manufactured in 1861 at the Kopa factory. There is a working smokehouse in the attic.

The hosts conduct tours, during which (by prior order) they offer visitors a tasting: sausages of their own production, German keg beer, as well as homemade bread and oven-baked potatoes with lard.

WARNING! The house-museum of the German colonists has closed - the owner of the museum, Victor Dick, died and his family decided to close the museum. Other houses built by German colonists have been preserved in the village of Ruchaivka.

The Huliaipole Museum of Local Lore is located in the historic building of the former Mutual Credit Bank in the city center.

The exposition of the museum consists of 9 sections with a fund of 17,000 exhibits, which tell about the most ancient history of these lands, the era of the Zaporozhian Cossacks, the life of peasant and burgher houses, crafts of the Huliaipole region, etc.

The most interesting part of the exposition tells about the life and activities of the glorified anarchist, leader of the Revolutionary Rebel Army, Nestor Makhno. In particular, the legendary tachanka is presented - a movable point of fire on a horse-drawn vehicle invented by the Makhnovists. A monument to Tachanka was installed in the yard.

During the large-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the city of Huliaipole was on the front line and under constant fire from the Russian army. At the beginning of 2023, not a single surviving building remained in the city. The local lore museum of Huliaipole also suffered significant destruction.

Khortytsia is the largest Dnipro island, which is now located in the middle of the city of Zaporizhzhia.

Long ago, this natural fortress served as reliable protection for the tribes that settled here, traces of which have been preserved in abundance. In particular, the "Scythian State" complex exhibits barrows and stone statues from the Scythian times, a pagan sanctuary has been preserved from the Old Slavic times, and the remains of the Protolche settlement from the Ancient Rus times.

In the 16th century, Zaporizhzhia Sich was founded on the island of Mala Khortytsia - a fortified camp of Ukrainian Cossacks, which later became the center of the Cossack state, changing its location several times (a copy of the Cossack fortress was restored).

Khortytsia impresses with picturesque rocks, granite shores and small islands. Khortytsky floodplains in the southern part of the island are a nature reserve. There are many sanatoriums and recreation centers in the eastern and western parts of Khortytsia.

In 1965, a State (then National) historical and cultural reserve was created on the island, which is currently being transformed into a large museum complex.

Melitopol City Museum of Local Lore is located in the old three-story house of a merchant of the 2nd Guild of Chernikov.

Currently, the museum has 48,000 items. A unique collection of Scythian gold (IV century BC) from the excavations of the Melitopol mound is presented.

The pride of the numismatic collection is the treasure of silver coins of 1895-1925 release.

Of the exhibits of the art gallery, the graphic and painting works of the world-famous artist Oleksandr Tyshler are of great value.

During the large-scale Russian invasion in 2022, the Melitopol City Museum of Local Lore was under occupation. According to the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, the occupiers stole 1,841 pieces of museum objects, including historical weapons, jewelry from the Melitopol Scythian mound (Scythian gold), ancient coins, orders and medals of the Soviet era.

The memorial-tourist complex "Scythian Camp" is located in Zaporizhzhia on the highest point of the Khortytsia island (59 meters above the Dnipro level), which is crowned by the largest of the Khortytsia burial mounds, the "Zorova tomb" that has survived.

A copy of the sculpture of a Scythian warrior is installed on the mound.

At the beginning of the 20th century, there were 129 burial mounds on Khortytsia Island. Only 3 of the 28 burial mounds that once belonged to the burial mound group "Zorova tomb" have survived. In 2005, archaeologists reconstructed 8 more burial mounds, among which one was investigated and restored, two were restored on the site of the destroyed ones, and the rest are model mounds and the sanctuary of Areus .

In the open-air museum, many stone artifacts are collected: a millstone (a symbol of abundance and fertility), a roller or garman (a device for threshing grain), stupas (for pounding grain), statues, anthropomorphic stelae, etc.

The informal museum of Cossack Boats "Chayka" was created in Zaporizhzhia on the island of Khortytsia on the basis of two ancient ships raised from the bottom of the Dnipro in these places.

The decision to establish a shipyard in Khortytsia was made in 1737, at the height of the first Russian-Turkish war, when Russian ships could not pass to the Black Sea through the Dnipro rapids. The construction of dowel-boats and Cossack-type vessels - boats and boats similar to Cossack Chaykas, as well as "Russian-style" brigantines - was carried out here. In 1739, about 400 ships of the Dnipro flotilla were based in Khortytsia. Some of them sank during the flood.

The hull of the Cossack Chayka, preserved at the bottom under the sand, was discovered in 1998, and a year later the vessel was raised to the surface. In 2007, the brigantine found there was raised, and later - a dowel-boat, a boat and a single-masted boat. The finds were conserved and placed in a restoration shed next to the Horse Theater, and work is underway to restore their appearance.

Active support for the restorers is provided by the charity fund created by the singer Andriy Makarevych. Excursions are conducted. It is planned to create a Museum of Shipping (Dnipro Flotilla Museum).

Museum of Architecture of Zaporizhzhia acquaints visitors with the main architectural and city-planning directions and styles of the city.

This is the first in a series of so-called "craft museums" that tell the story through "live", an interactive exhibition that demonstrates the urban development from the first Oleksandrivsk's fortress to modern neighborhoods.

The museum consists of four departments dedicated to the construction of Stariy Oleksandrivsk, Mennonite colonies, the era of industrial modernization, the postwar reconstruction of the city.

Copies of old Oleksandrivsk doors created by masters, video installations and carefully preserved architectural elements are woven into the design of the museum space.