Attractions of Poltava

The Poltava Museum of Aviation and Cosmonautics is dedicated to outstanding events in aerospace science and technology in Ukraine and the world.

The Museum of Aviation and Space Rocketry was founded in Poltava in 1987 on the initiative of the creator of rocket engines, Academician Valentyn Hlushko.

The exhibition is housed in the former building of the first Poltava fire brigade (1810). Personal belongings of cosmonauts, models of spaceships and real units of space vehicles are exhibited in 6 halls.

A significant place in the exposition is given to natives of Poltava region. In particular, the scientific heritage of Yuriy Kondratyuk from Poltava is highlighted.

The funds include about 4,000 exhibits.

The most beautiful building in Poltava, which currently houses the regional office of the SBU, was built at the beginning of the 20th century for the Peasant and Noble Land Bank, which issued long-term loans to peasants for the purchase of noble lands.

Architect Oleksandr Kobelev designed the building, which is now considered one of the best examples of Ukrainian modernism. And the decorations are widely used details of Rus architecture. Multicolored mosaics give a special picturesqueness. The central entrance at the truncated corner of the building is decorated with a decorative mosaic panel with firebirds and siren sculptures.

The building was damaged during the Second World War, restored in 1948.

The Poltava Educational House named after Mykola Hohol was built in 1901 according to the project of academician Oleksiy Trambytskyi, the St. Petersburg architect of the Directorate of Imperial Theaters.

The theater building is made in the Neo-Renaissance style. Rectangular in plan, the audience hall for 1,100 seats with balconies and boxes, an orchestra pit and a compact stage box resembled in miniature the stage of the famous Milanese theater La Scala.

During the Second World War, the theater was destroyed, in the post-war years it was restored to its original architectural form and adapted to the "Wizoria Kolos" cinema (now a 3D cinema).

The Exaltation of the Cross Monastery in Poltava was founded in 1650 on the banks of the Vorskla River at the expense of Colonel Martyn Pushkar, a Poltava elder and burghers.

The Cathedral of the Ascension of the Cross (1699-1709) is the only seven-headed baroque church in Ukraine that has survived to this day. The four-story belfry (1786) in the late Baroque style is 43 meters high. The complex also includes the single-domed Trinity Church (1750) and the Simeon Church (1887).

During the war with the Swedes, there was a pond of Karl XII.

In the first half of the 20th century, the monastery was closed and ransacked, the premises were used by the NKVD as a prison for minors, then as a boarding school.

The complex of the Exaltation of the Cross Monastery was returned to the church in 1991.

One of the first museums in Poltava was established in 1909 on the battle field of Poltava near the Mass grave of Russian soldiers to mark the 200th anniversary of the victory of the Russian army over the Swedes.

The collection includes more than eight thousand exhibits: works of art, weapons, awards, flags, uniforms and equipment of the Russian and Swedish armies, personal belongings of Petro I and his associates. The sounded diorama of the Poltava battle is established.

Nearby - a monument to Peter I, Samson's Church (1895) and the mass grave of Russian soldiers, a cross on the grave of Swedish soldiers and a monument to the Swedes from the Russians.

Two redoubts (field fortifications of the Russian army) were restored, one of which is located on the opposite side of the road, and the other - near the museum building.

The People's Museum of History of the Poltava Polytechnic named after Yuriy Kondratyuk is dedicated to the creation and development of one of the oldest universities in the Poltava region, which was founded in 1930.

The university is located in the former building of the Poltava Institute of Noble Girls.

The exposition of the museum has 10 sections, where more than a thousand exhibits are presented, which acquaint visitors with the stages of development and traditions of the Poltava Polytechnic staff. In particular, you can see a clock from the house of the famous Poltava inventor Yuriy Kondratyuk, whose name is the university.

A separate exposition is occupied by models of the university building, stands with scientific achievements, awards of the former Poltava Civil Engineering Institute, which for a long time was transformed from a single-profile institution of higher education into a classical European university.

The Church of the Ascension of the Lord on the territory of the current residential area of Polovka in Poltava (the former village of Pushkarivka) was built in 1762 at the expense of Poltava colonel Ivan Chernyak as the cathedral church of the Pushkarivsky Ascension Monastery, founded here in 1721.

According to some sources, Motrya Kochubey, the daughter of General Judge Vasyl Kochubey, executed by Hetman Ivan Mazepa, spent the last years of her life here in a monastery (until the 30s of the 20th century, there was a grave of Motrya in the monastery cemetery).

At the beginning of the 19th century, the monastery was closed, and the Ascension Church acquired the status of a parish. All the monastery buildings fell into disrepair and were dismantled. Currently, the Church of the Ascension is an active church of the UOC of the Moscow Patriarchate.

The Holy Dormition Cathedral on the Ivanov Hill is the first stone spore in Poltava.

Promoted in 1751-1770 by the initiatives of Colonel Andriy Horlenok at the wooden church, which, since 1695, stood on Vichevy Maidan of Poltava Fortress.

The temple in the style of the Byzantine basilica was designed by the architect Stefan Stabansky. In 1780, two more domes were added to three domes. In 1900, the cathedral underwent one reconstruction, and as a result, it became spacious and bright. On a door with a height of 44 meters, the wall of the door "Kizi-Kermen" is visible from Turkish garmats, for example, of the XVIII century (now at the Local Lore Museum).

In 1934, the Cathedral was demolished by the Bolsheviks, but the door was miraculously preserved. In 1999-2007, at the initiative of the President of Ukraine, the cathedral was reconstructed and turned into the bulk of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

The Church in honor of the holy martyrs Faith, Hope, Love and their mother Sophia was built in 2002 at the initiative of the city authorities and the women's religious community of Poltava.

The author of the project is the Honored Artist of Ukraine, architect Anatoliy Chornoshchokov. Inside the church, the earthly abode of Jesus Christ is separated to the entire height of the church by a carved iconostasis made by masters of the Lviv company "Syaivo". Some icons were brought from the Pochaiv Lavra.

The five-bath temple in the style of classicism is crowned by a central five-meter cross. Decorative baths contain seven bells. All of them were cast at the Poltava Locomotive Repair Plant. The most powerful of them, weighing 271 kilograms, is called "Poltava".

The estate of the outstanding writer Ivan Kotlyarevsky was recreated in 1969 according to a drawing by Taras Shevchenko, made from nature in 1845.

There is a house, a barn and a well-crane, which are immersed in the green garden.

Kotlyarevsky lived in Poltava most of his life. He studied at the Poltava Theological Seminary, later was the director of the Poltava Theater, and was even a member of the Poltava Masonic Lodge.

In his Poltava house, the classic of Ukrainian literature created most of his works, including the famous "Aeneid".

Details of the old building have been installed in the house restored to the 200th anniversary of the writer's birth. Inside, the atmosphere of the XIX century is very authentically recreated. Here are stored personal belongings of the writer, awards, manuscript pages of his works, the first editions of books.

Ivanova Mountain (Ivanova Hora) is the historical core of Poltava, the best scenic spot in the city. More than 11 centuries ago, the historic city of Ltava stood here on a high hill above the Vorskla River.

Later, an earthen Poltava fortress was built, which in the 18th century held back the advance of the Swedes for three months, until the army of Petro I approached. The wooden Podil tower (one of 15) was reconstructed, next to which it is planned to restore the Sentinel bastion of the Poltava fortress.

The panorama of the Vorskla Valley with the Exaltation of the Cross Monastery on the nearby hill opens from the White Arbor.

In 2006, a monument to the Poltava halushka, celebrated by writers, was erected near the Ivan Kotlyarevskyi museum and the Lileya restaurant.

The monument at the resting place of Peter I in Poltava was erected where the house of the Cossack Mahdenko was located in the 18th century, where the Russian Tsar Peter I stayed on the second day after the Battle of Poltava in 1709.

The first monument, erected in 1817, was a simple brick obelisk. In 1849, the current monument of architect Oleksandr Bryullov, brother of the famous artist Karl Bryullov, was erected instead.

The rest of the emperor after the victory in the Battle of Poltava is symbolized by the ancient Russian helmet crowned with a laurel wreath and the round shield, which rests peacefully on the hero's sword. A high-relief image of a sleeping lion is placed in the lower part of the granite pedestal. The inscription on the pedestal says: "Peter I rested here after his exploits on June 27, 1709."

The monument to the Swedish soldiers who died during the Battle of Poltava was opened in 1909 at the initiative of the Russian public in recognition of the bravery and courage of the soldiers of the army of Charles XII.

A memorial cross on a granite pyramid was installed at the place where the right flank of the Swedish army was located in the second stage of the battle. The height of the monument is about 9 meters. The inscription on the bronze plaque reads: "Eternal memory of the brave Swedish soldiers who died in the battle near Poltava on June 27, 1709."

According to various estimates, the losses of the Swedish army in the Battle of Poltava ranged from 6,000 to 7,000 people. Most of the dead were hastily buried in trenches and ravines.

The monument to the Swedes from the Russians is located right next to the highway at the entrance to Poltava from the Okhtyrka side.

The monument of Cossack glory in Poltava was opened in 1994. Dedicated to the Ukrainian Cossacks who died during the Battle of Poltava.

The authors of the project are sculptor Volodymyr Bilous, artist Viktor Baturin.

A huge Cossack cross with the laconic inscription "To Ukrainian fallen Cossacks" is placed on a massive granite base. At the foot of the symbolic mound - two bunchuks.

The "Monument to Colonel Kelin and the Valiant Defenders of Poltava" was erected in 1909 on the site of the Masurian Gate of the Poltava Fortress in memory of the city's defense on the eve of the Battle of Poltava in 1709.

For 3 months, the fortress withstood the siege of the Swedish army of Charles XII before the approach of the main forces of the Russian Peter I. The defense was led by the commandant of the Poltava fortress, Colonel Oleksiy Kelin, who received the rank of major general for this.

The monument to the defenders of Poltava by the sculptor-animalist Artemiy Ober was erected for the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Poltava. The monument is a granite obelisk on a pedestal on which a bronze figure of a lion is located. Previously, the obelisk was crowned with an imperial double-headed eagle.